Lauren Brevner didn't think she could be a successful artist without a costly arts education, until she realized she had three powerful — and free — tools at her fingertips.

After working for a year in Japan under self-taught designer Sin Nakayamal, Brevner decided to pursue her artistic calling by leveraging the resources available to her — most significantly, the library, the internet and Instagram.

The Vancouver artist turned to books and websites to teach herself tricky techniques like gold leafing and painting with oil, acrylic and resin. The resulting mixed-media works are dreamy portraits of women in robes made of collaged Japanese papers, floating in gilded space.

In this video, filmed by Lisa Wu, Brevner lets us into her Vancouver studio as she puts the finishing touches on her latest works. She tells us about the Japanese designer who changed her life, and how she got her art out into the world.