When stresses at school are high, freshman Sophie Clevenger distracts herself by painting. The beginning of her artistry began early as a kid with different inspirations giving her the push she needed to start her journey. Clevenger uses various kinds of brushes and utensils to get her desired effects, while mainly sticking to acrylic paints and watercolors.
“I’ve always been pretty creative and loved making things,” Clevenger said. “One of my favorite places to go is the art museum, which really drove me to start painting.”
The atmosphere is a large part of having a successful painting session. Clevenger paints at her dinner table where good lighting enters from the windows and she can truly focus on what’s in front of her.
“When I’m painting, I play a lot of music,” Clevenger said. “I would say it’s mostly Taylor Swift, oldies rock and roll and broadway soundtracks. Music doesn’t change the mood of my painting, I usually pick out and plan beforehand because I’ve learned I paint better that way.”
Finding a subject she’s passionate about can be challenging, but Clevenger finds certain aspects of nature to be the most appealing in her art.
“More recently I’ve painted animals, like my dog and my nana’s dogs,” Clevenger said. “I also love landscapes because of all the different kinds there are to try. Fruit is also a fun thing to paint, I love painting strawberries.”
Clevenger spends many hours within her atmosphere refining her skill.
“Depending on what I’m painting or how much I want to have fine detail, about 1-4 hours, more on the 4 end,” Clevenger said. “While that seems like a long time, I don’t really notice once I get into the zone.”
Within those hours, Clevenger learned certain lessons, especially what it means to have patience.
“It takes a while to get whatever you’re working on how you envision it in your head,” Clevenger said. “It’s also taught me to be innovative; sometimes things don’t go the way you planned so you have to figure out a new direction to go. Or sometimes you want the paint to have a certain look or texture and then you could find a new tool to get your desired effect.”
Using her skill, Clevenger is able to share the joy that she feels toward art to the ones around her.
“I think it’s really cool when I can use my skills I’ve developed to paint a painting of my nana’s dogs to give to her for Christmas,” Clevenger said. “Paintings in a museum always make me feel a lot at once, and I love that I can make someone else feel the same with mine.”
