We were lucky to catch up with Michele Struss recently and have shared our conversation below.
Michele, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.
I do donate on reproductions from my mini-series, “Children Around the World.” In the collection are 4 different paintings of children from Africa, India and El Salvador. 100% of sales from prints and stationery of those pieces go to non-profit organizations helping children in their respective countries.
CALCUTTA MERCY – https://www.calcuttamercy.org/
I volunteered with Calcutta Mercy for several years. They serve the children in India through food, education and medical intervention. Because of my own physical challenges, I choose to earmark all profits from my paintings, “Overcome” (Indian Girl with Butterfly Wings) and “Hiding Hurt” (Girl from India), to provide free medical care for underprivileged children in India.
KING’S CASTLE – https://www.kingscastle.org/
I have gone to El Salvador around 20 times to work with King’s Castle in various roles. During one of those trips, I painted “Little Mother” (Children in El Salvador), so of course I chose their ministry to support with the profits from that piece. I’ve seen firsthand the good and effective work they do to reach the children, keeping them off the streets and out of gangs by sharing the love and gospel of Jesus.
AFRICA’S CHILDREN – https://africaschildrennow.org/
I have always had a heart for the continent of Africa, but due to neurological complications involving my breathing, flying there would be challenging at best. But through my painting, “Alasan” (African Boy), I have the opportunity to play a role in kids’ lives there! Africa’s Children is meeting the physical and spiritual needs of children and teens. Those are two needs that are close to my heart!
Michele, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Sure! My name is Michele Struss and I am an artist and unexpected small business owner. Creative and artistic growing up, I majored in art in college with a concentration in Graphic Design thinking it was a more lucrative field than painting. This girl though is a painter through and through, so, after graduating, I returned to my choice medium – watercolors. For years I took on commission work but eventually became burned out, always painting what others wanted while making as little as $1/hr. So, I finally found my voice and stepped away from custom work and began painting according to God’s leading within my own creative spirit.
In time, He was stirring me to take on paintings involving people – a subject matter I’d been intentionally avoiding due to its difficulty in watercolor coupled with my photorealistic style. After some practice, I painted “My Hero,” which is a self-portrait of sorts as it tells my story. I was born with a form of dwarfism and have had orthopedic challenges and surgeries my whole life. Everyone sees me as strong, and even calls me their hero, but I wanted to create a piece that showed where my true strength lies. So, I represented myself as a little girl who fell while walking with her crutches; but behind her is her hero, Jesus, picking her up.
The painting was so well received that there were several requests for prints of it. I had never stepped into that world before, having reproductions of my work made, but it was what opened the door to start my small business, His Paintbrush. The name of my business came through a prayer I kept praying while working on “My Hero.” After investing close to 100 hours, I ruined the first painting overshadowing the little girl’s face. Unfortunately, I ruined my second try as well, overshadowing Jesus’ robe. Through it all, and through tears, I kept praying, “God, I cannot do this on my own. I need You to be the Artist and simply use me as Your paintbrush.”
His Paintbrush sells high quality prints and stationery of my watercolors. I like to say that holding one of the cards is like holding a mini watercolor. With each piece, I write an Artist Statement about the meaning behind the painting. My goal is to inspire hope. Life is hard, and we all need encouragement and inspiration to keep moving forward and trusting God. Though a lot of my work is photorealistic, my goal is not to impress the viewer of my art nearly as much as it is to move them. My hope is that each print I sell brings beauty and meaning to its new space, and every card brings encouragement to its recipient’s soul. Perhaps it can all best be summed up by His Paintbrush’s tagline… “watercolors that breathe hope.”
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
If I may, I’ll share two: one personal and one as an artist. I mentioned that I have a form of dwarfism that has affected my hips and spine. The year after I graduated college, I had a major hip surgery and was then put in a spica cast (body cast) to immobilize my hip as it healed. I could not walk or even sit, just lay flat and depend on others. After 10 weeks, x-rays showed that my hip had healed, and I got the cast off with no plans of looking back. But a couple hours later, my doctor came into my hospital room with a grave look on his face and my x-rays in his hand. He said my hip actually hadn’t healed at all. So, the next day I went back to the O.R. for a bone graft and then back into another spica cast. From beginning to end, I was in a body cast for 5 ½ months. That was a hard deal being the year after I’d been away at college living a very independent life. BUT it was during those challenging months that my faith was stretched, grew and became my own. And I’ve been standing on that tested faith ever since.
As for a story that illustrates my resilience as an artist, I shared one above about the two failed attempts creating “My Hero,” but there is another story that stands out. It was while working on my painting “Redemption,” which depicts the Lamb of God bleeding, and His blood is dripping over 9 words (pain, addiction, depression, cancer, rape, fear, death, sin, and abuse) that were written by 9 people with 9 powerful stories of being healed and freed. I struggled SO MUCH on that painting, specifically on God’s glory. I KNEW the painting was falling so short of what it could have been, but I refused to quit. Day after day, hope turned to discouragement as I worked on it for 9 long months. Then, one afternoon I spilled dark brown paint across the Lamb’s head that was supposed to be pristine white. The painting was ruined immediately. I just cried and said, “I don’t understand this journey. What was it all for?” Two days later I started over, and that second attempt flowed from beginning to end. I learned a powerful life lesson through that experience. I learned that I cannot take hold of excellence when I’m holding on to compromise with a death grip. Somehow those hard-learned lessons seem to be the most valuable ones of all because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve applied that lesson since.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
I also do public speaking, sharing various parts of my story to inspire others in their own story. The venues where I am invited to speak have been the best outlets for my work. Instead of just seeing “art” or products, after hearing my story and seeing parallels with their own story, people’s hearts become engaged, and my work becomes personal for them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HisPaintbrush.com
- Instagram: @hispaintbrush_michele
- Facebook: @hispaintbrush
Image Credits
@amandaherroldphotography @drbp_photography