Meet the artist

Elsa Payton in her Studio

Photo by Emily Bass

Hi, i’m elsa payton:
wife, mom, painter

My earliest and fondest memories include looking up at the big wooden easel that my dad built for my mom, and painting next to her. Painting has been a constant companion throughout all of life’s changes since then. Though I painted for pleasure, my artist’s journey began in earnest in 2019 when I repurposed eighty wine glasses from my wedding into hand-painted candles. Studio Pure Art has evolved as I embraced my true love, painting portraits.

I now offer custom portrait and fine art commissions, as well as art classes for children and adults in my local community. I work in a variety of mediums, including acrylics, oils, watercolor and mixed media.

For many years I hadn’t the courage to reproduce the precious or passionate moments I observed between people. As a self-taught painter, mentored in my younger years by my incredibly gifted mother, I spent my time painting landscapes and other subjects in oils and acrylics, and simply ignored my yearning to paint people. My motivators to begin portraiture in earnest were my sons. My four-year-old asked, “If you want to paint people, then why don’t you just do it?” He had a point. As I watched my younger son asleep in his Gigi’s arms, I could not pass up the opportunity to capture that moment on canvas. Now I just can’t stop! As I finally embraced my calling, it has been the utmost pleasure to be able to give my children and others resources and inspiration to embrace their own creativity through art.

A portrait should not simply reproduce a likeness, but evolve it into a timeless work of art and a reason to reach into our emotional memory. I use a very basic four-color acrylic palette for my portraits, and minimal additional media, giving me the opportunity to study and create each nuance in my subject as I paint. As I bring them to life, I fall in love with each unique personality being revealed. What a joy it has been to discover a subject so deep and worth connecting with as the human soul!