We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Penny Treese. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Penny below.
Penny, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
My family tells me that before I even learned to write my name, I was in love with the paintbrush. So in many ways, my work was inevitable. The early part of my career made perfect sense at the time. I earned a degree in art and graphic design, married my high school sweetheart, landed a great job in advertising, and had two beautiful babies. It was as if I had created the life that I had painted in my mind since I was a young girl. And then, in an instant, that picturesque existence was ripped away. I had been betrayed and fooled. I felt unequipped to heal, seeing that everything I trusted was a fabrication. I was alone, with two small babies who needed me. Mentally, emotionally, and financially, I was broken. I thought, “Penniless. In every sense, I’m Penny-less.” I was cracked to my core.
I couldn’t afford therapy; but I knew if I didn’t paint, I might not survive. So I healed through art. I found an intuitive painting class and learned to “paint my guts out.” As I began, my work was angry; my internal conflicts of fear defeating trust and failure smothering hope came crashing onto the canvas. I felt the promise of love mock me as rage flowed through my brush strokes. And still, I kept painting and painting. While I created art with the colors of a fiery spirit, feelings of destruction were slowly cascading out of me.
Almost accidently, I started selling paintings, first to friends and then to clients who felt connected to the pieces that flowed from my consciousness. Art collectors started commissioning large pieces. Corporate art appreciators wanted works for their offices. And women asked for custom art pieces as reflections of themselves after seeing the ephemeral, female works I was moved to create. I’m grateful to the many galleries, locally, nationally, and internationally, that have represented my work over my 17 year art career, which began with my drive to survive through painting.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Hi, I’m Penny. Welcome to my world. I’m honored that you are here to learn about the journey that transformed my work. When you look at my paintings, I want you to feel connected to the most colorful, the most courageous part of you. I hope that my work or my Celebration Portraits experience brings immeasurable joy to your living space. But my ultimate dream is that my art gives you a vivid realization of your unique beauty and an unchartered sense of freedom.
My parents encouraged my love of art, which began as soon as I could hold a crayon, or even draw with a stick in the mud! They encouraged art school and supported every decision that brought me closer to living my dream of being a working artist. A 10-year “Madmen-esque” career in advertising before diving into full-time fine artistry gave me the backbone to withstand the drastic highs and lows of this life-path.
I’ve been blessed with the rises and falls of the “artist-life tide”. I truly see the highlights as delicious icing and yet the struggles are where I’ve grown exponentially. I’m proud to have been one of the six original artists who formed the Fine Arts Workshop Atelier under master artists Michael David and Thomas Swanson. The mastery, synergy, and discipline of this 3 year experience significantly changed me as an artist and human being. I’m grateful to have won awards, been juried into exhibitions worldwide and sold many works, however my most glowing moments occur while I’m teaching art and helping others find joy and self-love.
What may set me apart from other artists is my 15 years of experience creating and instructing in a unique technique of painting. My primary medium is Encaustic Painting which utilizes beeswax and heat. Simply put, I “paint with fire”. This ancient Egyptian technique has been practiced since 5th Century BC. The word encaustic means “to heat or burn in.” Heat from a blowtorch, heat gun or iron is used throughout the process, from melting damar resin and beeswax, pigmenting the medium to desired hues, then fusing the layers of wax onto wooden panels and untreated substrates. Creating custom, commissioned paintings from minuscule to massive in size, is my true passion. Selling through art consultants, galleries, boutiques, and interior designers has honestly been a dream realized. However, creating a custom piece tailored to an art lover who feels a deep connection to my work is the most rewarding experience.
I’m equally as passionate about instructing, which I merely term, “sharing”. I aspire to inspire students and “pay it forward” after being led by abstract and Encaustic masters. I offer private and group lessons, workshops and retreats nationally and within my studio in Decatur, Georgia.
I am also ardently dedicated to our transformative experiences created for women, called Celebration Portraits. Which are exactly that – a celebration. They allow us see beyond the mirror and free us from how society defines beauty. The final art portrait is a celebration of you, and your exceptional beauty and light.
My art partner, Liz Stubbs is a renowned portrait photographer. We believe each woman is a unique wonder. Therefore, our offering is tailored. Through photographic and art experiences, we capture and transform images of the female figure with elements like rainwater, coffee and sunlight. Our energy encircles everyone with compassion, gentleness, and exuberance, honoring who they are in that moment. Liz sees through her camera with a lens of love. And I alchemize the images with wax, pigment, sunlight, or maybe rainwater-unique elements that are inspired by each individual. We celebrate each woman’s story, seeing each of them with love.
Celebration Portraits come from the deep roots of our personal transformations and expansions as women, unlimited, unstoppable. We share a taste of celebration to inspire you to see yourself as limitless on our website: www.CelebrationPortraits.art
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goals are fairly simple. To continue sharing my personal methods of healing through art. To grow within my practice by learning from masters, novices, children, writers, photographers and to stay humble enough to truly listen. I will strive to create SOMETHING every day – a splatter, a rendering, scribbles of automatic writing, or simply create a connection by holding space for a friend. I strive to continue volunteering by leading art sessions with refugees, and human-trafficked teens through my favorite non-profit, PaintLove. I hope to continue creating commissioned artwork for anyone who desires to own a little piece of my soul.
Being an artist is all I have ever known. My art has consistently transformed in tandem with my journey through despair, rage, growth, joy, and unchartered freedom. My deepest desire is that my art ignites a sense of strength and confidence in who we are as women. I want it to be a limitless source of energy that transforms into untamed joy.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
In addition to the gift of creating soul-centered artwork for a living, I feel deeply rewarded to teach, guide, and share my methods of painting through teaching.
I love to share the workshop experience because a huge majority of people tell me, “Oh! I couldn’t do that. I can’t even draw a stick figure!” And it’s the people who say that to me that walk away from my classes feeling not only transformed, but on a high from having tapped into their unique artistic gifts.
Last month I held a workshop in my art-filled studio where a mother and adult son + daughter, Scott and Kim attended. Mom, was a proud, accomplished local artist, but Kim and Scott hadn’t picked up a paintbrush since they were kids. While I demonstrated swirling vibrant colors into molten wax in small, round metal tins on my pancake griddle, the comforting scent of beeswax filled the cozy space. Their eyes grew larger as I blazed my torch into action with a single click. Mesmerized, they watched the glowing blue flame lick the circular paint strokes atop of the wooden panel and BURST them into a jelly-fish-like pool of liquid color.
Scott and Kim took right to it, diving in with no hesitancy, and torched in time with the Bee Gees singing “Jive Talkin” booming from the studio speakers. (I swing my arms and hips holding an imaginary torch)
Mom was a different story. Her brows started furrowing as her brain tried to grasp how she’d POSSIBLY paint a realistic pasture scene, with FIRE! She was a professional artist, for goodness sake! Why were her delicately painted petals melting into muddy puddles of pigment?!
She shoved her (birch panel of) experiments aside and plopped into my big blue chair, sighing that she needed a break.
After about 10 minutes, Kim asked mom if she could play with her piece. With permission, she dove into melting, blending what had been magenta flowers, turning the panel in every direction, and suddenly halted, shouting, “MOM, LOOK AT WHAT I JUST DID!” pointing to a brilliant cosmos of color. “Oh My God, I’m an artist, too!”
As she witnessed her daughter experience the joy of creating art, an irrepressible smile lit up mom’s face. I think it was that joy that set her free in some way. She returned to sit on a stool by her children and scrape curls of wax off the sides of her first encaustic painting.
These moments are what will keep me teaching until I’m 90!
My classes are an invitation to enter the world of being an artist, even if just for an evening.
To paint outside the lines and let magic happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pennytreese.com
- Instagram: @PennyTreeseArt
- Facebook: Penny Treese Artist
- Linkedin: Penny Treese
- Youtube: Penny Treese
- Other: www.CelebrationPortraits.art ig: @CelebrationPortraits
Image Credits
Liz Stubbs photographer https://lizstubbsphotography.com/