Born in 1971, Aimee Stewart is a self-taught artist whose photo manipulation and electric digital painting style have earned her a spot as one of the most popular modern artists in puzzles. She is also a photographer and writer. Puzzles based on her artwork often feature succulents and lush scenes of landscapes full of bright colors and unique subjects, busy scenes of mystical rooms or outdoor spots, and more.

She is an artist who brings to life surreal visions from her imagination’s storybook and has been called a “champion of daydreams.”

Aimee Stewart: Renaissance Woman

Stewart adopts the title “Renaissance Woman” happily, and her biography states that she considers life to be one giant, creative endeavor. It also claims that she has music in her soul and daydreams in her blood.

It’s no wonder that puzzles based on her artwork are so popular!

She began dabbling in website design in 1999, and by 2005, she was an avid experimentalist with photomanipulation. She’s known for blending traditional and digital art concepts, churning out unique creations that are often described as the stuff of dreams.

Stewart was a part of Duirwaigh Gallery from 2008 to 2012, when she worked with Silas Toball and Angi Sullins on various artistic collaborations and projects. She signed on with MGL Licensing UK in 2010, and her range of artwork and products extended across Europe.

If that isn’t impressive enough, she is a frequent guest writer for Advanced Photoshop Magazine, an international publication through which she also leads masterclass tutorials for students. Her class topics cover a wide range of photography and Photoshop subjects, and her accomplishments, works, writings, and more have been in publications all over the world.

Sources of Inspiration

There are myriad jigsaw puzzles that feature Stewart's work from years past. Today, she’s still selling her artwork across the globe and teaming up with many different people on a slew of fascinating projects. She lives in Washington state in the same town she grew up in, which is in the rainshadow desert on the eastern end of the Cascade Mountains.

It’s a location that offers rivers, lakes, volcanic plateaus, mountains, orchards, and quite a diverse array of weather patterns, all of which have helped to shape the pool from which Aimee is inspired.

Even her house sounds like a dream: It’s on a hill in the middle of miles of cherry, pear, and apple orchards. The sight in the spring when everything is blooming is spectacular, she says.

The Typical Day in the Life of This Artist

Stewart wakes up early every day. She loves to watch the sunrise. She’s also an avid coffee enthusiast, so she will wake up, make coffee and play with her dog, eat breakfast, then sit down to do some artwork in her art studio. (Her art studio, by the way, is gorgeous. It’s full of bright colors, silk saris from India, and incredible trinkets and textures, much like her artwork.)

She almost always listens to music while she works, which is usually from about 8:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. The artist will break for a few hours during the afternoon and nap, shop, or do anything that gives her eyes a break from the computer — most of her artwork is digital.

Stewart also loves to cook, so she will make dinner before spending the evening in her art studio. Although it may seem that she operates on a tight daily schedule, she states that she loves going to work any time, day or night. Whenever inspiration strikes, she savors it.

The Self-Taught Artist and Her Fantasy Artwork

Aimee Stewart was always doodling, sketching, and making art when she was a young child, and she took traditional high school art classes. When she realized the possibilities that digital art provided in the early 2000s, she considered it a challenge to figure it all out.

She would work regular little jobs, come home, and open Photoshop to teach herself everything she could about the program. It became a delightful escape for her that eventually allowed her to express all of the fantastic visions that had been in her imagination for so long.

The daydreaming artist often had the comment, “daydreams too much,” written on her school report cards, but she doesn’t mind that at all. It’s this daydreaming that led her to fantasy, science fiction, and fairytale books. Some of the authors she grew up reading include:

• J.R.R. Tolkein
• Beatrix Potter
• Charles Dickens
• Anne McCaffrey

She began to “see” mystical creatures wherever she went, and she reveals that she still does. She now creates the images that she sees in her daydreams, but that’s not all. She also sometimes draws ideas from actual dreams she has. She will wake from a dream and write it down!

Aimee Stewart: Her Art in Jigsaw Puzzles

Stewart enjoys talking to people and discovering what their interests and stories are. She will find out why certain people are drawn to different hobbies, like jigsaw puzzles, and research those interests.

The artist explains that it helps her when she’s creating a puzzle image to which she doesn’t have a direct connection. She also says that she draws on people’s enthusiasm and infuses her images for puzzles with the same level of enthusiasm.

Stewart’s work was first used in jigsaw puzzles in 2009-2010, and her first one was a 500-piece puzzle licensed by yours truly, Buffalo Games! The scene was of a beautiful maiden near a magical pond, gazing at many magical things within it. The puzzle was called The Wish. At the time, she says she had no idea that The Wish with Buffalo Games would lead to a successful career making jigsaw puzzle images.

Aimee Stewart continues to create artwork for a variety of applications, including jigsaw puzzles. Not only has she become an expert in all things digital art, but she also often still doodles, draws, and paints, especially using pastels and watercolor paints.

Buffalo Games proudly still offers Aimee Stewart puzzles with themes like fantasy, nature and landscapes, collages, and many others for fans of all ages.