I suppose my path to becoming an artist began at age nine.  It was then that my Dad described the human figure in a series of simple shapes.  The head; two eggs, the ribcage; an upside down beehive,  the hips; a cereal bowl.  He told me the whole body is the length of nine heads.  From this point on and even before,  I received serious encouragement from both of my parents.  Macaroni art and all.  They saw something streaming from my left hand onto paper,  and recognized it as a gift that I had been blessed with at birth.

My Dad, Stan Fleming,  was a renowned storyboard artist for such films as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Hunt for the Red October,  and my Mom, Mary, is a brilliant portrait and fantasy painter.  I suppose that I fell somewhere in between.  I only began seriously painting in High School,  and was encouraged by all of my teachers.  I spent four years at the California College of the Arts and in 2004 walked with a BFA in Illustration. 

Most of my commissions since school have been through personal contacts.  From 2001-2004,  I worked as a resident artist for Trader Joes in Emeryville.  They had always been inclined to use chalk for their boards, but one day I recommended acrylics, and over the next nine or so months painted seven mural size signs for the store which reside at the front of the store.  United Markets in San Rafael enjoyed the idea of the hand painted signs,  and they commissioned me to paint two 6'x4' deli signs.  I spent one month in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico painting a 50'x10' mural on a stucco wall at the Playa Fiesta hotel www.PlayaFiesta.com.  Because my scaffolding consisted of milk crates and driftwood,  this job was very challenging.  Not to mention being surrounded by breathtaking panoramic views.  It was distracting but inspiring. 

I recently apprenticed a fellow artist, Jim Nichols, in a commercial storyboard job for Palm (Palm Pilots).  In the last two weeks,  I was contracted by Pogo Pictures of San Francisco to do an eighteen frame storyboard for an Alabama Tourism commercial.  I enjoyed the speed and intensity of these jobs and the feeling of working under my Fathers' wing.

Please enjoy this site and thank you for visiting! 

Bryana Fleming

Murals

Paintings