With a personality as radiant as her art, it's not surprising that Stephanie Arnwine has been afforded a plethora of great opportunities: sponsorships, autographed pieces, and even celebrity admiration regarding her amazing works. While these things alone could start to paint the picture of her being a virtuoso, Arnwine possesses even more attributes that can vividly attest to the reasons why she is truly deserving of the title…
Before I even started the interview, my eyes were pleasantly met with a montage of beautiful art, which decorated every corner of Arnwine's room. While I had been a follower of her work for a while and was familiar with many of her life-like pieces, they stood out even more through our video message. After gathering my attention from her art and Loki paraphernalia that simply couldn't be ignore (fangirl here), I started off by asking her when she discovered her talent for creating the masterpieces that she does…
Before I even started the interview, my eyes were pleasantly met with a montage of beautiful art, which decorated every corner of Arnwine's room. While I had been a follower of her work for a while and was familiar with many of her life-like pieces, they stood out even more through our video message. After gathering my attention from her art and Loki paraphernalia that simply couldn't be ignore (fangirl here), I started off by asking her when she discovered her talent for creating the masterpieces that she does…
"I was a really little girl when I started to just draw—I was into sketching and my granddad was an artist, who did a lot of oil paintings and oil pastels, so I've always had a love for it as a young child, but I did not start painting until 2011. I'm a self-taught artist, I've never had any art classes; I've never gone to art school; I've never learned under a professor, or had any art history, but I have a buddy of mine that I paint with (he's phenomenal!), and he showed me some things: how to work with colors, acrylic paint, etc., and that's kind of what I've stuck with ever since. I've just continued to grow as an artist over the last few years."
"I would say it's traditional realism, because anything and everything I create, I try to make it look as real as possible—as If a camera had taken the picture."
In looking at the pictures in her background as she spoke, the truth of this could clearly be seen. Her art really does make it feel as if you can reach out and end up touching a person's face. It is truly unreal...I went on to ask her a more complex question, concerning who her number one inspiration as an artist is. After a "hmmm" that calculated the many possible answers to this question, she responded saying....
"Well, one would be my very good friend Paul Snider; he's a phenomenal artist and he's taught me a lot of what I know, so I really look up to him."
She went on to mention that fact that there were many other artists that she follows on social media, whose art she really admires...
"A lot of them do realism portraits that are just phenomenal, and while I look up to that, and aspire to be that, I know my work will never look like theirs, because I'm not them…my work will always look different, and that's okay, because that's me. That's my personal style."
I loved the fact that Arnwine answered this way, accepting the fact that while to her, her art will never be equivalent to theirs, it is still art that is unique to her personal style. This is a refreshing sentiment in a world where many often feel that their work has to match up to the work of others. As can be seen in the life-size portrait of Benedict Cumberbatch here, her art is indeed quite different than others--and considering how amazing her works are,
that is a very good thing...
"Every time I went to his house, he would always have little sketchbooks set up for me: oil pastels and pencils. He really brought that love of art out of me, that I have today"
Referencing an earlier conversation we’d had about her being a full-time artist now, I asked her at what moment did she realize she could make a career out of her talents.
“I kind of knew in 2011 that it was possible for me to do it, I thought that my work was ‘okay’ but I knew I wasn't ready to make it a full time business or career at that time, so I would probably say within the last 2 or 3 years was when I really started to think more seriously about making this a full time career, and taking the leap to just do it. I quit my job a few weeks ago, then decided to myself ‘You know, I'm just going to take the leap; it’s now or never, I'm going to go full speed ahead with this—I feel ready.”
She continued, saying...“Now, I've got my own Etsy shop that is up, running, and ready to go. I can make printouts with no problem, get it shipped out the next day for customers, and I can do paintings and commission work for people and feel a lot more confident now as an artist, to be able to do a lot more, and make it so that I feel my work is good enough for customers. Also, I’m a little bit quicker now with painting than when I first started, so I can kick out commissioned paintings a little bit faster, so people aren't waiting a few months; now, it can take just a couple of weeks.”
Transitioning to the celebrity encounters that I had witnessed on her social media pages, I said the following in asking her my next question: I’ve seen moments on your social media feed where you’ve had the opportunity to have celebrities like Tom Hiddleston and Zachary Levi to sign your art, and you’ve had a chance to gift them your art as well. Can you describe exactly how some of those moments came about and how they changed your life? She responded as such:
“With Tom Hiddleston, a friend of mine and I knew that they were going to be filming one of his movies in Louisiana; at the time, I lived in Oklahoma, so I thought since he would be right there in my backyard, I would love to try to meet him. And the portrait that I gave Tom was him as King Henry V, and I specifically remember him discussing in an interview that that role (The Hollow Crown series) reminded him of why he was an actor, and why he does what he does; so I specifically gifted him that picture of King Henry V, to hopefully remind him of that. When we met, it all happened very fast, but he was very impressed with the painting.”
Speaking on the subject of Hiddleston, Arnwine interrupted herself, referring to an upcoming trip to see his play Betrayal, and have her recent creations signed by the cast:
“I will actually be going to New York next weekend to meet him again, Zawe Ashton, and Charlie Cox. I tweeted the three portraits that I’d painted, to have them all signed, and Zawe tweeted back, stating that she wanted to know if she could keep hers, so that was really special.”
Reflecting back on the original question, she referenced her encounters with Zachary Levi:
“I got to meet him as well—I painted him as Fandral and he signed that portrait; then, I painted him as himself for his NerdHQ company, and gifted that to him.
He had also retweeted that picture of Thor and Loki that I painted— The Brothers of Asgard—so that meant a lot to me.”
In reference to all the celebrities she’d had the opportunity to connect with, she summarized these celebrity experiences, stating the following:
“I know I’m not really their peer and I’m not equal to them—because they’re all phenomenal, incredibly intelligent actors, and artists—but I do look up to them; they inspire me. I love painting portraits of people and it is celebrities who inspire me...you really kind of connect with them when you're painting them, so for them to acknowledge your work, acknowledge you as an artist, and validate you in some kind of way—even though I shouldn't really chase that kind of validation—it’s just nice. It’s nice when somebody you look up to, admires your work as well. That always inspires me and keeps me going.”
At this point of our interview, I asked Arwine to describe a moment when her artistic talents afforded her the opportunity to experience something surprising or experience an event she’d never dreamed of. She responded saying...
“I had a company reach out to me—Arteza—and they sent me some of their supplies. Basically, it was one of those ‘We’ll promote you, if you’ll promote us’ kind of things, so that was really cool! I’m currently doing a give-away that ends tomorrow, where the winner will get a set of their acrylic paint—that they (Arteza) will ship out to them—and they will ship me some more of their supplies for doing it. This was really surprising, for me...to have an art supply company reach out to me and say ‘Hey! We really like your work and what you’re doing, we want you to use our products and promote them.’ Zawe [Ashton] was the painting that I used all their stuff on: their brushes, their canvas, and their acrylic paint—I was floored by their supplies and I will continue using them. So yeah, this experience was one that definitely surprised me: to have an art company reach out to me, was really special!”
With her track record of successfully making her art work into profitable business opportunities, I asked Arnwine what three business tips she would give to other artists or entrepreneurs, who want to make a living out of their talents. With a thoughtful “hmmm”, she replied...
“That is a good question, because I don’t feel I’m a business person or an entrepreneur...I guess I would first say, (1) have a website up, because not everyone has Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts—invest in a domain and have your own website up. It can be a simple one to post your videos and post your work. (2) Definitely get an Etsy account up. I know there are probably other sites where people can sell their work and art, so choose whichever one you prefer—I picked Etsy, because I can connect it to my other sites— just have something like that set up; it makes it easier for the buyer if you have that or PayPal for commissioned work. (3) Definitely have an Instagram, Facebook, etc. and link those up to your other sites as well. Sometimes you have to pay to play, so it doesn’t hurt every now and then, to pay to boost your posts: to get your work out there. When I boost my post on Instagram, I actually get more feedback (than boosting on Facebook)...when you want to start a business, you’re going to have to invest in it, before it starts giving money back to you.”
To properly top off this insightful and intriguing interview, I presented this virtuoso of art, with the task in the following question: You may not consider yourself a virtuoso, BUT, if you were to convince someone that you are...what would you say?
“I guess I would say that because I’m self-taught—never had any proper instruction, schooling, or anything like that—is what makes me one. My art is a skill that I work on, but I do believe that for me, it is a natural talent. I am constantly learning, I’m constantly working on it; I don't consider myself a brilliant master, because I feel like I'm always learning and my mind is always open to critique—but, If I had to convince them, I guess I would let them know that I have the skill, I am confident in myself as an artist, and I feel confident that I produce good work. The natural talent and skill...is there.”
With a humbling, yet confident aura about her undeniable skills, Stephanie Arnwine epitomizes what a virtuoso of art should be: one who realizes the great works they are capable of, but possess the wisdom to know that there is still much more they can learn and do, to improve upon their works even more. Past virtuosos of art—Michelangelo, Monet, O'Keeffe, etc.—continuously reached new heights in their careers, by learning all they could to make masterpieces that surpassed their previous ones. With that similar ability to challenge what she knows and what she can achieve, it is no doubt that Stephanie Arnwine will do the same.
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