About Stacy....

They always ask me,

     “How long have you been

          an artist, Stacy?”

My answer is always,

“My whole life”.

Well, I have been painting as long as I remember. Watercolor

books and paint by number kits are my first memories of painting. 

I was an only child on a 40 acre farm in the Prairie Cajun Capital of Louisiana, Eunice.  I think I created art because it was all I had to do. Funny, to think back now, I  think I just needed entertainment! I was bored out there on the prairie.  I was a spirited little girl, and I often felt held back by the confines of a small town life.  My brain is always generating information FULL SPEED- I’ve always been that way. Thank God I wasn’t born 10 years later or I would have been labeled ADD.

Which I am, but I know it’s a blessing. I read books, took care of the animals, danced around like a fool, received my daily education, and of course, Created ART! And to this very day, I am still doing all those same things plus I am a wife and mother (and I try to get my tennis in each week). 

  I am thankful that my momma and my daddy recognized a passion in me at an early age and allowed me to cultivate that passion by providing me with tools to create. From coloring books to paints, play dough, and clay...My momma bought me paint by numbers kits. I used to get frustrated because the brushes didn’t work well. She bought me better brushes from the hobby shop, and then I became obsessed with making them look just like the cover of the box.   She arranged for private lessons by artist, Patricia Miller, beginning when I was 9 years old.  When I was 11 years old,  My mom put in an application for me to attend a Talented Art Summer Scholarship Program at the Louisiana State University at Eunice. For as long as she could remember, I spent countless hours working on drawing and paintings. Each Saturday afternoon, I had a date with Bob Ross on  on Public Broadcasting. I obviously was not like ‘normal’ kids.  She gathered all of my drawings and paintings and sent in the application. I was accepted and that summer I learned college level techniques. My instructor was the LSUE Professor of ART, Jo Anne Quillman. I studied the book “Drawing on the Right side of the Brain” during the program.   Mrs. Quillman turned out to be one of my ART Professors in College, AND that book was my Freshman Year ART book. 

I took my passion to college and then began the task finding my place in the world.  I’ve been around the block a time or two, and I’ve walked through some shit too, but I’ve learned to live each day with the wonder and excitement of “What comes Next?” I’ve learned to always be open and never afraid to try new things.  My motto is, “I’ll try almost anything...at least once”

 

  My life, each day is spent creating ART and also creating SOLUTIONS through ART and through COLOR.  I love to work with Interiors, because that is such a personal thing. I love seeing my clients so happy because we just took the space to another level. Sometimes a solution is as simple as giving a room a little color therapy, because COLOR makes us feel.  People invite me into their space and say, “It just doesn’t feel right”.  Something as simple as color can change the way we feel.  I change things, and enhance, it bring the ART to daily life”. I love doing commissioned paintings and resurrecting rooms, furniture and other Objects de Art with decorative finishes. It’s always an adventure!

“I’m always learning something new!”

    Creating has always been so natural, like breathing. My entire life I’ve been perplexed how people were often amazed by something that came so easy. I noticed that so many wanted to “TRY” to create something, whether it was a painting or something functional like, a Faux Finish, but they were always afraid to try.  I remember, when I was a little girl at St. Edmunds Elementary school in Eunice, Louisiana; my friends would gather around the school desk and would say, “Stacy, draw this,Draw that, Stacy draw a horse...Can you draw it for me?”.  I think that everyone can do it. They CAN...I just know it. They just haven’t taken the time to learn how.  

  I started doing Live GUIDED ART as ENTERTAINMENT sessions a few years ago, post Katrina.  I worked with Kelli Douglas at Cocktails and Canvas, in Metairie Louisiana.  Once a week, I would drive to Metairie, Louisiana and teach classes of 30 people. I certainly wasn’t doing it for the money. I loved the excitement, $50 barely covered my gas, but it didn’t matter,  I loved it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was learning from them, learning what these average people from all walks of life were capable of. Why they said things like, “I’m not artistic, I can’t draw a stick man”.   Most of the people that I had met, had really never painted before. 

    I called my friend Greg Johnson at Crossgates Family Fitness and I told him all about Art as Entertainment Phenomenon  and I started up “Strokes & Sips with Stacy” Classes.  30 people, painting, sipping a little wine, listening to good music and following the leader while they painted a painting. Everyone has so much fun, and at the end of class, everyone is so happy and proud of themselves.  The classes led to Corporate Team building Sessions and private parties.

 

And... then it happened..the ART...it evolved...it took on a life of it’s own... 

   We often only think of art as something to look at, or something to posses.   Through the past years, I have seen the other side of art. I know what art can DO for us, as humans!  I’ve done the field study and I have observed that art can heal us. Art can free your mind so

that suddenly you are able to think of new solutions to old idea’s.  You can stand  there looking at a painting all day long and no matter how  hard you stare, that painting won’t mend a broken heart or release your fear.  It is the ACT of CREATING that is really important and makes the difference.  Moving your hands and letting your mind go...What did our creator do for us in the first six days? Create.  When we are creating, we are the closest to God. It is the action of creation that really provides the most benefit. Most people don’t know how to be creative. They don’t know how to use the products to achieve something that they can be proud to display.  The current educational system does not nurture creativity and individuality in everyone. We all have a right side of the brain!  Not only does the action of being creative help us to feel centered and calm, it also helps the brain to heal the body, the most spectacular machine ever built. The reason is because your attention and focus is on CREATION. How heavenly perfect is that?   Tapping into the creative source in your head is evidently pretty hard if you don’t have a clue HOW... That’s where I come in.  So come, follow me, I’ll show you... I simplify the method, stroke by stroke, every step of the way while listening to all kinds of good music. 

I remember watching Bob Ross and thinking to myself, “I bet I could follow along if I had all the same stuff he’s using”.  So, now, 30 years later, the ART & SOUL studio kits have all of the same stuff! It’s a bit more lively than Old BOB, with his happy little trees.  God Rest his soul. You know, I learned a lot from Public Broadcasting and Bob Ross,and I felt very sad when I heard he died of Lung Cancer. I knew immediately that it was from all of the wet on wet Turpentine. Painting in a closed in studio with turpentine fumes...So, Bob, I learned from your mistake, and now my students paint with Non Toxic Paint and water.   

I am very grateful for the opportunity to do my part to help others tap into their CREATIVE SOURCE through the medium of PAINT in a fun and entertaining manner. 30 years after that summer when I studied, ‘Drawing on the right side of the brain, I find myself at this place, doing my part to help the human population to use their right side of the brain.    

   These days in 2012 are shared between Painting, and filming in the studio for the ARTasHEALING.US project. Working each day on the Art & Soul Studio painting kits has been so exciting.  Every day, we are finding new idea’s of how others can use them.  

                                                 Blessings to YOU!

                            Stacy Renne’ LaFleur

     Stacy LaFleur is a 2010 Award Recipient of the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation.

ARTasHEALING.US