stacy renee
Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by NakedCity in muse
words > DUSTIN DECKARD
Stacy Renee has been drawing and painting since she was three years old. As a young girl, she spent her time drawing Disney princesses, and in many ways her tastes haven’t so much changed as they have evolved. Replace the princesses with beautiful, colorful women from Florida and Puerto Rico—her biggest sources of inspiration—and you get what Stacy creates today.
In high school, Stacy took as many art classes as possible, where she focused mainly on portrait painting. When she graduated, she knew she wanted to explore and find her voice, so she headed to Florida, where she fell in love with the culture and bright, tropical colors. After only a month in Florida, she took another trip—this time to Puerto Rico—where she fell in love all over again and decided to stay for six months. Leaving Puerto Rico, she went back to Florida, where she lived for the next three years, diving into the South Beach scene, where she would do live performance painting. “I would be painting on the canvas and people would be talking about the painting as it was being made—that affected the painting.”
As the years in Florida passed, she realized that, of all places, she missed Wichita, and decided to come home.
“As soon as I got back, I heard of Final Friday and all the new gallery openings. I was really excited! I remember the first Final Friday I went on and thought ‘this is really cool!’”
Although back on the prairie, Stacy still paints in the bright, bold colors of Florida and Puerto Rico. She draws basic inspiration from fashion, particularly photos of models. She picks out photos that she likes, and translates them into color.
“The way I do my paintings—it’s a whole bunch of lines and colors put together, but it all makes this image. I want [the viewer] to feel like they’re experiencing the painting. When I create a painting, I do it in one sitting, and I put a lot of heart into it. When you’re looking at my painting, you get to know it, like you’re meeting a person.”
