Art by Sydney Bruner

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United States
Champaign, IL
Art by Sydney Bruner

Painter. Interior Design Nerd. Whimsy.

06/06/2026

TC, this one’s for you.

T&R (2026)
Acrylic on Canvas
8x10”

When I left my hometown, I was craving change. I wanted a life that Southern Indiana couldn’t offer me—I craved more. Now almost everyone I meet hears about my hometown in the Ohio River Valley. I tried to run from it, but this town is enmeshed in me in ways I never imagined. My life has changed in innumerable ways, but life here seems almost exactly how I left it—like a time capsule. I’ve been in this parking lot more times than I can count, staring at this sign. This town doesn’t feel like mine anymore, but the fact that it lives on exactly as it is comforting to me. Now I’m the occasional visitor, requesting breakfast at Julie’s, frog legs from Bill & Dave’s, or grabbing a bag of Grippos before I hit the road.

Life goes on, and yet, some things remain the same. 🍎

06/02/2026

This is a little ditty I like to call ~field research~

05/18/2026

I’m tired y’all. This one was a labor of love.

Five More Minutes (2026)
Acrylic on Canvas
18x24”

This one doesn’t really have a defining year, but rather speaks to the fragments of previous chapters that we carry with us well into adulthood. I swear Great Lash was every middle school girl’s first mascara. And honestly? I still think pretty highly of it. Jack Daniel’s Downhome Punch was a high school staple, as was a hair donut with a million bobby pins to keep it secured. To this day, I am still rocking dry shampoo like it’s my job, bought a bag of sour gummy worms just last week, and only recently upgraded to a non-cracked iPhone screen (though I have a sense of imminent doom on the matter). Being a girl is messy: the emotions, the lived experiences, the fckin’ glitter all over the bathroom sink— but there is something so incredibly human about it.

Capturing the whimsy of human nature has been such a rewarding journey. What a life. ♥️

05/12/2026

~the creative process~

05/07/2026

I’m making a conscious effort to explain my work more.

When I started this series last fall, I realized I had a lot to say. So I wrote about it, extensively. And guess what? I’m still not done.

If reading curated ramblings from a burnt out, slightly neurotic brunette is your jam… today’s your lucky day. 🤪

Blog post is live.

Side note: these paintings can be seen on display at The Scratching Post CU. After 5/31 they’ll be live on the website. 😉

04/26/2026

This piece sold over the weekend, so I thought I’d finally give it the explanation it deserves. When I originally painted this, I wasn’t sure how much of my personal life I was willing to share. Being an artist and painting from your own life can be deeply vulnerable at times. A perk of being an artist is the ability to speak through our creations.

I was feeling angsty last year when I made this piece. During this painting, I was reflecting on a decision I had made earlier in the year to leave a long term relationship—one of those that shape how you view the world. I’m not here to dwell or bash. I’ll own my feelings as my responsibility. I just think this piece deserves to be understood.

I chose to paint a birdcage as symbolism for how I felt through the course of the relationship. Much like a bird in a cage, I was rewarded for my appearance and accomplishments, but left confined to the limits of “the cage”. The course of the relationship became a power struggle in which I felt limited to my then-partner’s tolerance: the birdcage. I chose to stray from my normal color palette to emphasize that things were not “normal” during this time. Retrospect teaches us a lot. I chose a dark, cool color palette to symbolize the feelings that became my norm during the downward trajectory of the relationship.

Anger is a part of the grieving process. While I was painting this, I was still processing a lot of that anger. I chose to paint a trumpet vine flower— an invasive(but beautiful) vine that quickly takes over any fence or wall it can climb— to symbolize the way anger can become invasive and scale the limits of “the cage” and consequently reach the outside. Eventually, nature always wins.

Choosing to paint tweezers and feathers was to show the feelings that I felt “plucked” at times. The color of the feathers was representative of the red winged blackbird, a bird native to my area that I would often find in my walks in the prairie. For reasons unknown, I felt a strong connection to this type of bird at that time in my life.

This one was a little dark for me, but nonetheless something I needed to release. I’m thrilled it sold the first time I showcased it. Cheers.♥️

04/23/2026

ON DISPLAY: The largest collection of my original work I’ve ever shown. 🥹

April 22-May 31

114 E University Ave, Champaign

I’ll be around at 6pm this Friday. Come say hi!

04/14/2026

Wild Thing turns 3 this month! 🎉

I got a lot of love on this piece this weekend, so I figured I’d share a bit about it.

In 2023, I discovered that I really loved painting flowers. In fact, it’s most of what I painted for 2 years (I still love them and paint them often, don’t worry). It’s no secret that I love a vivid color palette— to me, use of color is perhaps the most important decision I make before starting a painting. This probably stems from my Graphic Design+Marketing education as well as my transition into an Interior Design profession. Color indicates mood, energy, intention, and so much more. I knew the color palette I wanted to use before I even knew what flowers I wanted in the piece.

After much success with Midnight Garden, another vibrant floral that I created months prior, I wanted to create something that conveyed high energy and playfulness. I drew a lot of inspiration from vintage neon signs and the environments you’ll typically find them in. Ironically enough, that line of inspiration has carried itself over into the bold yet chaotic still lives I’m creating today. Coincidence? I think not.

You can see this one on display at or even purchase it, if you’re feeling…wild. 😉

Address

Champaign, IL

Website

https://sydneybruner.com/

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