We recently connected with Tessa LeBaron and have shared our conversation below.
Tessa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
From a young age I always loved drawing. I was very shy and quiet, and I felt like I could use art as my voice. When I started realizing that I wanted to pursue art as a career, I was a teenager.. I remember taking “career class” in high school and the assignment was planning for the future and picking a career. I literally wrote down “artist” as my career and my teacher told me, “You can’t be an artist! pick something realistic..” Well, I didn’t listen to her, because I was stubborn and most of all passionate about art and wanted to dedicate myself to what I love. During high school days, I would experiment with tattoos on friends and would have people request me to draw them designs. When I graduated, I took some graphic design courses and started working at print shops making T-shirts. After I was laid-off from my job, I took a leap, and chose to commit myself to my to painting, selling my originals and displaying my art at different exhibits.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
In 2018 I had the opportunity to paint my first mural at Geneva on the Lake at the Cove Night Club. This was an exciting moment to me, because I had always wanted to paint something impressive at a large scale. It was a 50ft wide by 20ft tall surface. This mural I painted led to creating for more local businesses in the area and in northeast Ohio. After a few years went by, I had painted over 30 murals!
I have different branches of art that I offer; custom paintings, pet portraits, logo design, murals and more. I work with acrylic and watercolor. I love to beautify and transform spaces with my art. I mostly paint murals now and I love helping local businesses thrive and help make a place special and differentiate from others. It reflects and reveals our society, creates meaning to our cities and uniqueness to our communities. Murals are a great way to spark conversation, connect people, inspire wonder, and create positive change.
I think what sets me apart from other artists are my painted themes of femininity and nature. I have developed illustrative qualities in my work over time by making use of a palette of vibrant colors which emote a range of feelings, from edgy to tranquil. Using a bold palette and focusing on somewhat psychedelic subject matter and strong feminine leanings imbued with elements of our natural world, I feel I’m able to transmit a sense of joy and whimsy in my art. When I paint, I draw from my emotions and from my past experiences of how society imprints on my psyche, creating an organic relationship between my surroundings and what transmits through me and onto the canvas. There are elements of femininity, healing, and coping with pain which resonate throughout my work.
You can see more of my artwork at Negative Space gallery in Cleveland where I display all of my original artwork. Negative Space is a unique gallery and a platform for emerging artists and musicians to flourish and a space for all kinds of shows and events.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I’m lucky and grateful to be an artist because I’ve met so many wonderful friends and creatives throughout the years. I’ve gotten the opportunity to connect with people, collaborate with others, create unique experiences and make people feel emotive with art. If it weren’t for me following my passion, I wouldn’t meet the people I know today.
I also love the process of creating a piece of art and seeing the final product. There is a tangible and cathartic release in drawing and painting and a magical feeling completing an art piece. I believe being passionate about something helps you connect with yourself and it holds you together at the end of the day. I am forever grateful I’m able to use my art as a voice and use it as a means of visual communication.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
One of the biggest impacts I’ve had starting out as an artist was discovering Fieldey TV. Haylee Fieldes is a Australian artist and commercial illustrator that has a Youtube channel that I found years ago. I immediately resonated with her artwork because of the similar art style I have. I admired her illustrative tattoo styled art with elements of pop art and realistic portraiture. I also was inspired by the detailed flora to her paintings that are vibrant and explode with color. She has many videos that help emerging artists starting a career. There are many complex questions that she helped answer in her videos such as; how to price your artwork, what materials to use in a mural, and what is the best way to go about certain projects. I would suggest her youtube channel for any emerging artists.
Contact Info:
- Website: tessalebaron.com
- Instagram: tessla_art
Image Credits
Personal picture: Mural in the background by Tessa LeBaron and Laurel Herbold