Post edited 4:24 pm – May 30, 2010 by Matthew Mayhem

Many enthusiast of Halloween and the Fall season respect the classic folk art that comes with it. One artist has brought painting after painting of those same fall feelings I and others have remembered. Lizzy Rainey has captured all those feelings of my childhood that I have had at one time or another. Lizzy is working on her Sept Oct Premier Halloween Exhibit. She has given The Burning Leaf a sneak peek of a small portion of an enormous painting of a spooky, moonlit, Tangled Tree Forest hosting Trick or Treaters.

Q -  Your paintings seem as if you have poured your heart into the subject matter…Do you have a passion for Halloween and the fall.

Lizzy – I am 48 years old and have 5 siblings with a brother that grew up just one year older than me. My fondest memory of Halloween is simply Trick or Treating with my brother in our costumes with our pumpkin Buckets and that is what my customers mostly ask me to paint for them.One of the memories I love is a picture of myself in my witch costume in the 1960's.

Q – When did you start painting and what was your first Halloween/autumn type painting?

Lizzy – I have always Loved to paint but I began officially painting in 2004 when my mother passed away. Painting was something God blessed me with to heal my heart. The first painting I did was a great, old twisted Tree. I paint day and night and have never been able to stop since.

Q -  Why do you paint these particular types of scene?

Lizzy – Painting Halloween scenes came from my Love of painting Trees, Twisted Tangled Trees with the Glow of the Full Moon peeking through. Also I cannot get away from painting the colors of Autumn.I cannot seem to get enough of it.

Q -  Are any of the people in these paintings based on real people you know, or maybe even yourself? Are there any stories behind these characters?

Lizzy – Many of the characters in these paintings are images of real children in their Halloween costumes. People ask me to paint their childhood memories in their Trick or Treat costumes so I use the ones I like over and over again in my work. Some become regulars. My sister Phyllis Uzelac, author of scary novels, owns the only Halloween painting with me and my brother in it wearing our original Trick or Treat costumes. This one is very dear to me because my deep need to paint Trick or Treaters comes from my memories of me as the little witch and my brother as the leopard. Many of the characters have real stories behind them. As seen on my website one family had me paint their childhood home in San Francisco with their family dressed up as The Adams family. The mother and father did this every Halloween and though their actual photographs were few I was able to capture the essence of their memories on canvas from their descriptions. I also painted the neighborhood children in their original costumes, a neighbors dog peeking through the window and the lounging neighborhood cats.

Q -  What do you consider to be the best thing you've painted?

Lizzy – The best painting I feel I have ever painted is of my son as a toddler in his angel costume. It is a true portrait yet even with his sparkling Halo encircling his head he has a serious pout on his face. I have always Loved it. This painting is seen also on my website at http://www.auntlizzy.com under Portraits.

Q -  If we were to send you pics of ourselves as kids dressed for Halloween, would you incorporate us into your work?

Lizzy – I incorporate people into my scenes regularly. They send me childhood pictures of themselves dressed for Trick or Treat or they will send me photos of their own children in costumes. I do entire families and even add in their pets. One that comes to mind is on my website entitled The Ghost Dogs of Dantes Castle. A customer sent me photographs of his dogs and told me of his love for castles and the legends of Ghost Dogs guarding the castle gates. I captured all of his ideas on canvas.

Q -  Do you listen to music while you are working on a painting, if so what type?

Lizzy – I normally do not listen to music while I paint. I like the quiet.

Q -  What is your favorite scary movie? (lol)

Lizzy – My favorite scary movie is "The Others". I Love the Old House featured in it.But in my childhood every Saturday night we would stay up late to watch "Creature Features" which were the old black and white scary movies. Still to this day I look out for that wolfman who might slowly drag himself out from behind a big old tree in the fog.

Q -  Who are your heroes in the art world?

Lizzy – I have several heroes in the art world. One is John Atkinson Grimshaw. He has the same darkness to his art that I Love. I do not Love the darkness because I enjoy the Evil in it. I Love the darkness in my paintings because it makes the Light coming through so much more intense. Most of my paintings are light-hearted memories of Trick or Treat, not evil in nature.

Q -  What kind of materials do you use, i.e., type of paint, canvas, etc.?

Lizzy – I paint with high quality acrylic paints on canvas.

Q – Has their been any influences that inspired you to paint?

Lizzy – . I must say my inspiration is a gift God gave me to heal my heart when I lost my mother. Memories of my childhood flooded me and I strive to capture them on canvas. Halloween in the 1965 era was a fabulous memory. An innocent time of neighborhoods having this extremely fun celebration and the costumes were amazing. Casper,Batman,Charlie Brown, Popeye, Dracula, Witches, Clowns, and of course the home-made mummies and ghosts. Pumpkin Buckets and Tootsie Rolls.Walking the Street at Night with the Autumn Leaves blowing through the night air. All Magical Memories that must be preserved.

Q – How many paintings would you say that you do every year?

Lizzy – I paint approximately 70-100 paintings a year.

Q – Do you have any current projects coming up?

Lizzy – I am currently working on my first Halloween Exhibit in September/October of 2010 at the Tippecanoe Art Federation in Lafayette, Indiana. I prepare Autumn Art every year for our State Fair and have several Commissioned projects I am working on, one of which is painting Autumn Scenes for our New City Hospital.

Q – What are some of your other passions or hobbies?

Lizzy – My other passions are Children. I teach Childrens Church. I Love teaching kids of the Love of God.

Q – What is your favorite color that you like to use the most in your paintings?

Lizzy – I use a lot of red.I quietly and light-heartedly call myself The Painter of Red. Maybe because my painting comes from deep grief and Red is a bright exchange for that sorrow. It is a happy color.

Q – Do you have any advice for people that may want to take up painting Folk Art?

Lizzy – My advice would be to Paint a lot. It is like learning to write your ABC's as a child, the more you do it the better you get. Also paint for fun. As human beings we do best what we like best. If you Love it your work will come from your soul and others will enjoy it.

Q – Favorite halloween Candy, Favorite Fall Drink, Favorite Fall Food?

Lizzy – I do Love candy and Halloween is a great excuse to indulge. Reese's Peanut butter Cups are great…..but when I was a child my favorite were the candy cigarettes….does anyone remember those? Puffs of sugar would come out like smoke. ha ha
Hot Chocolate…lots of marshmallows.
A huge pot of Bon Fire Chili

Q – Favorite Halloween Costume?

Lizzy – My favorite Halloween costume is the plastic masked, green faced witch….it would be a retro design like the one I hold in my 4 year old picture.

A Sneak Peek of the Exibition

Here you can see her Previous work

The Artist

If you would like to discuss commisioned work by Lizzy. Please contact her via email  mylizard@hotmail.com

Glad you guys are enjoying her work and the interview. I have to give a big thanks to Katie for helping with the interview!