Lenore Stutz Art Geek . Chic . Whimsical . Sweet {guest post} #Giveaway

Hello! I am the artist and founder of Lenore Stutz Art! I am so excited to be posting on “Tall Mom, Tiny Baby”.

I’ve been an artist my whole life.

I was the lucky daughter of a sweet homemaker mother, with an encyclopedia for a vocabulary, and a freelance commercial and fine artist for a father. Our family adventures consisted of rope swings by the river, mud wrestling in the backyard, and the Richmond Art Museum.

Now we are all artists in one way or another. They are portrait artists, photographers, song writers, and graphic novelists.

In fact, my brother, Gibbs, and his wife actually own another etsy shop, Crowsmack, where he designs cute shirts and super awesome posters.

I studied art at Brigham Young University in Utah, where I learned how to make paint from nature (mud, dirt & leaves) and I learned a lot of other great fine art lessons from incredibly talented world-renowned artists (but the dirt and leaves are all my kids care about :).

Now I am a mother of 3 beautiful children and one hurricane of a 2-year old! I’ve always made my house a prettier place by creating art all around my family in our home.

My favorite subject is my kids! They are so cute.

I love drawing children in their happiest times, in their “storybook” moments. We, as mothers, try to capture them on film on our phones and cameras, but I find greater joy in painting them – it gives the moment a more timeless feel.

My sister-in-law has a quote hanging on her bathroom wall:

“Motherhood is like being pecked to death…by chickens.”

As much as we enjoy beautiful little moments, they seem to be fleeting and few and far between!

My house is a crazy world of 6-year adorable Miss “Bossy-Pants”, Legos, light-saber battles, swim-team, church, laundry, and trying to make dinner while refereeing my kids!

I am very lucky to be a stay-at-home mom and I love it, but I also wanted to express my creativity through my art.

That’s my artsy, now here’s where the geeky comes in!

My love for “Harry Potter” came later in life, I was just older when they came out.

My fiance, Dave, did his first of many amazing things by introducing me to “Harry Potter”! 🙂 I was engaged when I read the first book and read the next 4 within a few weeks.

We were the first at “Barnes and Nobles” on the release-dates of the newer books- (you could find us mowing all of the 8 and 9 year olds over on our way to the front of the line!) Anyways- as you can see I can go on and on. I am a fan. My husband and I geek out a little.

(SPOILER!! I am reading the 3rd “Harry Potter” book right now with my oldest daughter and Harry just found out Sirius Black was his Dad’s best friend! So fun to see her reaction to this stuff for the first time.)

So, my shop– how did it come to be?

Well, My husband, who is my biggest support and incredible help, works for a huge software company and asked me if I wanted to have a booth in their holiday “Arts and Craft” fair. I said to sign me up! Though I wasn’t sure what I was going to paint yet! 🙂

We thought about who our audience was there – a bunch of computer nerds!!! Perfect! Let’s do Star Wars! But, how about we make them cute little kids? The idea was born and my shop was made!

My first sketch was of “Baby Chewy”. When I put the watercolor on little Chewbacca, it was so adorable I had to keep going! “Boba Fett and R2-D2 have tea” was next.

After the fun of selling at my husband’s work and the success there, I did another “Arts and Craft Fair” and then opened my etsy shop! It has been exhilarating to be a part of people’s homes.

My customers send me photos of their baby’s nurseries with my framed art up in their rooms. I am blown away.

It is such a special feeling to know that my paintings can make other people happy and brighten their day. That they want them in their child’s room. It is a precious thing.

The process of my watercolors is pretty simple but takes a lot of time and TLC. After coming up with a cute idea of a favorite character, I start with watercolor paper. I sketch out my drawing with pencil.

Then I trace the pencil and do my final drawing with a special black pen. This is when the art really takes shape and I can’t really make mistakes! They are hard to fix at this point!

Next I erase all of the pencil and paint with the watercolor. Watercolor is beautiful and vibrant. But it is not very forgiving.

It takes a lot of practice and patience to get the colors you want. I love how my pallet looks. I think it is a work of art in itself. After the watercolor is dry I usually go over a few parts in pen and white paint for highlighting. It’s kind of the icing on the cake for me.

Once I love my work I will get it ready to print! I have a great relationship with a local print shop that does incredible work. The prints of my art look pretty much identical to my original! It is incredible! I take my own special paper there to be printed on. I then hand-sign and number each piece in pencil.

Graphite cannot be reproduced and that is why artists use it to sign their work– because you can know that it is authentic!

I hope you have enjoyed this little peak into my little etsy shop! I am happy to keep creating geek, chic, whimsical, and sweet art for the family! Much love!

X0X0

Lenore

Find Lenore Stutz Art through the following links: Etsy Shop | Facebook