An Interview + A Giveaway {Stefanie Renee}

Today we continue our monthly interview series. A series in which I introduce you to some very special people…individuals who work equally hard at their craft and at living an intentional life. Someone new each month, sharing thoughts on creativity and discussing current work dear to his/her heart. Each individual who joins us will also generously offer some sort of giveaway. It could be a handmade item, a spot in a workshop, a collection of stones or crystals…anything that’s connected to the feature artist’s work and life. Their gift to you is of their choosing. This series will, I hope, create space to explore what creativity looks like to different people.  I hope it will also create space to spread a little love through the gifts of our guests.

Today, we’re visiting with Stefanie Renee.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Stefanie in person – a brief meeting, but long enough to get a hug and to feel her kindness.  She’s someone whose art practice I admire…she keeps at it, daily.  She shares her practice with family and friends (I just love her photos on Instagram when I see she’s been creating with her daughters) and, now, online (read more about that below).  She’s down-to-earth and possesses an energy that feels constant and true…like she’s always creating, but not at fevered pitch…just wonderfully steady.  I think you’re gonna like her!  Are you ready? Here we go…

Can you tell us about your creative work, and what creativity means to you? 

In 2014 I started a series called #stefscribbles which consisted of sketching and watercolors of people that I would see or interact with during the day. It started off as a way to get out of my head and off the computer, and was easy enough to keep out on my desk and to just do something quickly.  Nothing too serious …  It’s since morphed into daily color meditations that I do with mixed media in the mornings, to get my wiggles out so to speak.  I like to experiment with new materials such as weaving, sewing, playing with driftwood that I collect at beaches along the Pacific Ocean, and postcard writing.  I always fall back into photography which was, and always will be, my first love.

What creativity means to you?

Well I like to say that it keeps me sane. It’s my meditation and my go to when I’m feeling blue or when I have extra energy.  Creativity in whatever form is really my lifeline.

I love the series of watercolor people you share on Instagram with the hashtag #stefscribbles.  Could you tell us about that project and share how that project began?

Yes, it started a few years ago when I was going through a particularly dark time emotionally, I couldn’t get out of this particular funk so I picked up my paints and started sketching women — Courtney Cerruti was a big influence but I have always been drawn to people and their faces whether I was photographing or painting so they started out as a daily occurrence.  While I worked at my desk, it was easy enough to have my paints nearby to scribble, doodle and paint.  At that point I was just painting them and nothing else but then a friend started posting these “stories” about them on my Facebook page and that just lead to me naming them and creating stories about them and what they were doing or going through.  I am an avid people watcher and whether we think we know who the people are or not, it’s always fun to make up a story about someone. I started creating these watercolor people with names and stories to add to the #stefscribbles. I’ve been doing them off and on for over 3 + years and have completed over 600 of them.  It’s been a fun creative activity for me.

As a mother and artist, I’m curious how you weave your creative work into that of family and home.  Can you share how you honor your work while also being a mother?

I have my own space in our home; a small studio/office where I do my work and also my creative work.  It’s tiny but it’s all my own.  A place that can get messy and no one cares and I can leave.

When my 2 daughters were younger is when I started back with photography and I always had a camera in my hand to capture all their tiny moments of growing and once they got older and harder to capture is when I started with painting etc… So creativity has always been intertwined with my family.

My girls love to be creative too so we often do projects together and that’s always fun.  There was a time that my youngest daughter and I would draw together at night and that was a very special time together.  We often do collaborative drawings together too.  When they are in school, I try to find the time, but it’s balancing the creative work with the “paid” work that I am often challenged with.

But sometimes it’s just the stolen 5-10 minutes that keeps the creative part of my life going while also trying to manage my family.

Does being a mother inspire your art?

When I had my oldest daughter 12 years ago I remember saying that I really birthed my creativity when I birthed her. I had always been into photography but then I started a blog a few months before she was born – incorporating  photography and writings about pregnancy and life. Merging the writing and the photography together + being a first time mom really awoke something inside of me.  I’ve been on a real creative journey ever since.

Do you have any rituals surrounding your creative work?

Like I mentioned earlier I like to do a morning color meditation – where I just doodle, scribble and paint first thing in the mornings to get my juices flowing and it doesn’t have to be anything.  Otherwise I like to create something every day — I’ve been doing a 365 project for over 5 years where I either paint or photograph something every day.  It’s one of those things that just happens now, there’s rarely a day that I don’t do one of those two things.

I’d love for you to tell us about your online class Jumpstart Your Art:  Dive Deeper into Your Daily Creative Practice.  What is the class about?  What inspired you to create this class?

I was having trouble sleeping for a while and one night I was up playing around in my studio and I got to thinking that  I wanted to create something to offer the world that I was doing at the time.

That was when I started Jumpstart Your Art – 30 Days to a Daily Creative Practice.  Something that got people creating every day. Since I knew how much it helped me to create this daily habit, I thought others would like the same. It ended up being  an email a day with creative prompts and inspirational quotes, links or stories for 30 days.

It was super fun and I had some great students who really got inspired.  That morphed into the latest “Jumpstart Your Art: A Deeper Dive into your Daily Creative Practice” which goes for 3 months.  3 emails a week with prompts etc.  Just a longer time together and more in-depth creative pursuits.  It’s a great community and we share either on Facebook or Instagram.  It’s an accountability group really – we all want to create good habits and starting a creativity habit can give you so much!  It’s really therapeutic.

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Now some fun ones…

What’s the weather in your corner of the world today?

It’s sunny and bit windy but very lovely.  The flowers are amazing this time of year.

What makes you smile?

The flowers blooming and the smell of our orange tree in the backyard.  Seeing my girls happy and laughing together. Creating a work of art I’m really excited about.

Are you currently reading a book?  If so, what is it?

Yes, I just started reading Where did you go, Bernadette?  by Maria Semple.  I just finished her other book Today Will Be Different.  When I find an author I like, I tend to read all that they wrote!

Do you have a favorite fruit?

I love fruit but I can’t pass by really sweet strawberries, and when blueberries are in season I love love love them!

If you close your eyes right now, what word comes to mind?

Quiet and Focus

And now for the giveaway…

Stefanie is generously gifting one of you lucky readers the painting you see above. This painting is from her “color meditations” series.  It’s done with acrylics and is approximately 8 1/2 x 11″ on watercolor paper.  This series is a relatively new one for Stef, and they’re paintings she loves doing.  This one could be yours!

To enter the giveaway, here’s what you need to do:
Leave a comment below.  Say hello, maybe mention a creative project (big or small) that you’re working on (baking cookies counts!), share what you like. Comments will close at midnight PST on Monday, May 22 , 2017. The randomly selected winner will be announced here in this post on Tuesday, May 23.    Comments are now closed.

And the randomly selected winner is…Julie!  {Julie, an email is coming your way shortly.}  Thanks to those who played along!

And…Thank you, Stef, for being here with us.

Sending a little love your way, m

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Stefanie Renee:  I’m a mom, scribbler, painter, photographer, project manager, assistant to women entrepreneurs, event coordinator, creative advocate and sometimes the angry life coach! (I’ve been told I can tell it like it is with little to no filter! But I say it all with love!)  When my oldest daughter was born in 2005, I also birthed my commitment to creativity. Ever since then I’ve been on a mission to make it an everyday commitment and lifestyle.

 

Here’s where you can find Stef:
Website
Instagram
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