Do you remember your Creative Self?
The part of you that once felt free, expressive + curious,
but might now be hidden behind perfectionism,
“shoulds,” or life’s daily demands?
I’m Lexis, a lifelong artist, mom + your creative guide,
here to help you rediscover that spark so you can reconnect with that part of yourself.
Creative Self hides behind …
The rainbow of shoulds + shades of perfectionism.
The hues of doing all the things + the neutral fitting in.
The cool tone of playing the game + the heat of the bold inner critic.
The pair of generational + societal expectations.
All of these things prevent Creative Self from shining light out into the world.
You may believe you are no longer creative
because your Creative Self has been dark for so long.
I am here to help you create so that you remember.
Creating has consistently been my way of parting the curtains + standing in the light.
It is how I feel most like myself + feels like a homecoming.
I would be honored to guide you on your path back to the light.
I have always been deeply creative.
I grew up with an artist mom + Lexisworks was established, in college, in 2007.
This doesn’t mean being an artist has come easy.
Those curtains have concealed my Creative Self too many times to count. I have faced darkness, but each time I have chosen to come back to the light.
As all people going through this human experience, I, too, have had my fair share of complications + big emotions....
Seen as a too sensitive teen + not yet recognized as a highly sensitive, introvert empath, I captured my feelings with words + pasted my emotions on to paper.
Chasing love + grieving the death of a dad I never felt close to, my hands worked loosely in art journals in a way that felt more satisfying than pushing pixels ever did.
With no sign of the design career I had dreamed of upon graduation + getting laid off from 2 design jobs, I created anyway after work + began selling my art and prints at craft fairs.
Let down on my journey to motherhood, I collaged + painted my desires and disappointments into mountain landscapes and optimistic compositions.
Overwhelmed by the gift of motherhood, my daughter’s meningitis infection + subsequent hearing loss, I painted layered paintings to nowhere. An intuitive expression that had no process.
Pregnant + painting at the kitchen counter with a sleeping toddler on the couch, I traded my studio time for convenience and acrylic paint for watercolors. Anything to create + see the light.
Stuck at home with 2 children under 4 during the pandemic, I sought an escape from the visual chaos of my exterior life so I painted a rainbow mural in our basement, redecorated our bedroom to create an oasis, and painted my studio white.
Craving a simpler process to tame my anxiety, I developed a watercolor + doodling practice that infused everything I knew to be true about art + soon discovered that creating in the small moments made me feel more grounded, calm, + present.
These were all opportunities to remember.
None of it was wasted.
It’s also an appreciation for the beauty of rain
+ highlights what can grow after the storm.
My art is more than sunshine on a rainy day.
Creativity is a continual process.
And it requires regular practice.
My watercolor + doodling techniques have given me a process I can infuse with my creative rhythm + share with you.
As a wife + mother of two imaginative + adventurous girls, it can feel like there isn’t enough time or space to create.
But when I summon Creative Self, I can see the cracks of light + I feel the power to sustain my own creative flow. I remember who I am.
I am an Artist.
I was almost 30 before I felt brave enough to call myself an artist—even growing up with an artist mom + a photographer stepdad and earning a degree in art.
That’s how afraid I was of claiming something so innate in all of us.
Turns out, I was an artist all along + have 20 years of art experience to prove it.
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I may have wanted to be an artist, but I was encouraged to get a "real" degree in college. Looking back at my childhood sketchbooks + teenage wall decor —Got Milk ads + Hanson posters—were clear indications that I was meant to become a graphic designer. My design background has influenced my sense of order + use of typography in my art making. Earning my degree in Graphic Design with a minor in Mass Communication, I learned the power of creative messaging. I now borrow the formula of pairing images with text to great effect. These skills have been an asset as a freelance artist + my critical eye continues to analyze all things design.
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My college life-drawing professor told me my drawings were schematized—I drew the shape I wanted to see rather than drawing what I saw. Turns out as a graphic designer, that’s a good thing. During a later portfolio review, I was surprised to be told I was an illustrator. I had been so focused on layout + typography, I hadn't noticed this emerging skill. It still took years + encouragement—in the form of live holiday window painting— to nudge me in this direction. Now, drawing + doodling are part of my regular creative process.
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Experimenting with acrylic paint in high school + college, I smeared paint onto my mixed media journal pages. But I never took a painting class at my liberal arts university because I was too afraid the professor would critique me into not liking it. So I took online painting classes in my late 20s, painting intuitively with acrylic + mixed media for years. When I was pregnant with my second daughter, I discovered the joy of watercolor at my kitchen counter This medium has given me a process I can infuse with my creative rhythm + share with others.
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Upon graduating college—beyond my dream of working in a boutique design firm—I knew I wanted to collaborate + work with my hands + teach. These 3 goals have culminated in my watercolor workshops, which I began teaching in 2019. Watercolor is ideal for our busy modern lives. It is the perfect medium when there doesn’t seem to be any time or enough space to create. I connect with my own joy when I am teaching my process of layering doodles over watercolor. This process allows for the completion of a painting in whatever time you can make.
The freedom + joy of my practice is available to you.
I offer my guidance + creative gift through art + classes
designed to help you discover your own color + joy.
Are you curious?
How do I create when it doesn’t feel like I have enough time or space?
(And, of course, by ‘enough’ I mean long hours of solitude + uninterrupted time.)
I do it anyway.
I keep trying.
Drop your details below to find out how I create amidst the chaos of life.
I send emails every other Thursday to help you connect to Creative Self so you feel more grounded, calm + present. Each newsletter features a creative invitation, things worth sharing + a snapshot from my studio.