Today we’d like to introduce you to Eileen Seitz.
Hi Eileen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I Love COLOR. I love details, I love movement, I love Spirit. Drawing and Painting are ways I breathe LOVE in and out. This is what I came here to share, bringing my artwork to others on paper and canvas.
I was born and raised in New York City on the island of Manhattan. God showed me my gifts when I was 8 years old. My 4th grade teacher told my mom “Your daughter knows composition”. My mother heard my teacher as she intuitively understood color and music. She saw that I was able to sit quietly for hours and gave me all kinds of art materials to work with at home. I was a very introverted child and I would channel my deep feelings onto paper and canvas. I was different and understood spirit. When I was 12 yrs. of age my mom sent me to Saturday morning art class in Manhattan where I learned the basics. Drawing, perspective, proportions, shading and composition. At 13 yrs. of age, I created my oil painting called “Red Barn”. I entered a New York City Street Art Festival and won “first place and a blue ribbon”. At 16 years old, a New York City art dealer bought my oil painting of two immigrant gardeners wearing yellow rain slickers and hats. In high school my art teacher gave me extra attention and published many of my drawings in the school magazines. I loved art so much that I started to take art classes on Saturday mornings at Pratt institute in Brooklyn. When it came time to apply for colleges, I applied to Pratt Institute and was accepted. I majored in Fine Arts where I explored 2-dimension, oil painting, watercolors, etching, engraving, silkscreen, and book making. I learned that painting was what I wanted to do more than anything else at that time.
Manhattan, New York City, is a concrete jungle, filled with high rises. Living in Stuyvesant Town close to the east village until about 17 years old I experienced the four seasons. The Northern light is very different. The colors are duller, grays, greens, browns, blacks, navy blues, cranberry, sap greens, pea green and hooker green. Darker colors, sad withdrawn colors. The sunlight is further from the equator, and did not match what I felt in my heart. It was perfect growing up there, for I was learning other things in Manhattan, about the bigness of humanity and cultures from all over the world. This opened me up to the world travels that would come later. I had to move away from this northern light but I did not know where I was headed. At 18 years old I was invited to go to the Caribbean with two surfer musicians and everything changed. Every pore of my body and soul opened. Merging with the healing energy of tropical island colors, the plants, the land, the water, the people. fruits, flowers, birds, fish, and different unique architecture. I was reborn. I knew right then and there I was home in the tropics of our beautiful green and blue planet. It was the closest I had come to being in the SUN LIGHT.
In 1972 I left Manhattan. Since then, everyday Spirit, grabs me with its inspiring messages. A telephone to God speaks to me with its whispers. Clear, direct words and visions the I AM TELLS ME what to draw and paint. I never make sketches. I just start and Spirit tells me what is next. Then I go out looking for what attracts me and I sit and draw and then continue onto some other imagery. The composition comes to life on its own. Then the colors come. Color is visible energy. There are more colors than 7 colors of the Rainbow than we were taught. Where the colors are placed and the shades and tones create music on a two-dimensional surface.
In the Tropics, nature is rich, plants are abundant and humongous. The largeness of the leaves and textures in the jungle capture and captivate me. The sweet tropical breezes permeate my soul as they touch my skin. This is what I bring to the viewer in my paintings. The people who see my work, want to live in my paintings. I look upon the wonder of the unfolding Creation and I see how we are reflections of this same beauty. Every day it is different. It never dies it just changes. I feel the plants heartbeat, I hear them breathing and growing. Aqua’s, turquoise, pinks, peaches, blues, purples, violets, lime greens, blue greens, periwinkle, lemon yellow, oranges, brilliant reds, and more. All my senses are exuberant, and laughter fills me and pours out into my paintings. Nature just knows how to blend and contrast its form and colors on the earth as it does in the etheric. Now what do I with this “information” these vibrations? This is where the magic comes together, guided by spirit, it is about placement of lines, form and colors that create harmony, joy, peace, calm, excitement and wonder to the viewer.
When I go to Europe and paint, I use a different palette. Its not the plants and trees, I see and feel, but different colors. I am enthralled once again, attracted to the architecture. The light is different and architectural history is so full and rich with character. I love traveling and painting there. Detail, Detail, Detail I see everywhere in the cities. Listening to classical music in Europe also brings me a totally different color palette.
Since 1968 I began my travels in and out of USA. St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Key West, Mexico, hitch hiked through ALL of Central America, Panama, Colombia, Eleuthera, Nassau, Harbor Island, St. Marten, Jamaica, Tortola, Josh Van Dyke, Maui, Kauai, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Anguilla, Barbados, Trinidad, Tobago, Bastimentos- Panama, Bocas del Torre- Panama, Portugal, Spain, England, Brussels, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Alaska, Tavenui-Fiji, Bega-Fiji, Oahu, Hawaii, Sicily, Corfu, Montenegro, Dubrovnik, Easter Island, French Polynesia, Fakarava, Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahiti, Raiatea, Rangiora, Nuka Hiva, and Canada.
In 1981, I moved to Coconut Grove, FL because of the tropical trees. From here I could easily get on an airplane and go anywhere in the world.
In 1982 I began to self-publish my watercolors and oil paintings as art cards, posters, s/prints, s/n limited editions, miniprints, hand tufted wool rugs, washable floor mats, jigsaw puzzles and now printed fabrics to share it with the entire world.
For the past 60 years, my paintings have been purchased and commissioned received dozens of Awards, viewed on television and in theatre movies, printed as art festival posters and purchased for national and international hotels, resorts, hospitals, doctors’ office, cruise ships, banks, restaurants, and airports.
My intention has always been for my artwork to be on the walls of many private and public places where the masses can enjoy them. My mission in this lifetime is to bring THE SPIRIT of GOD, Creator through my work onto paper and Canvas. To connect the viewer to the SPIRIT OF GODS LOVE within himself. For people to realize their own inner joy, peace, clarity, definition, and harmony.
I receive many letters and emails from clients sharing with me the joy they feel having my artwork in their homes. Always telling me to keep up the good work bringing beauty to the earth.
When I work with a client for a commissioned painting or selling them an original painting or a giclee print, I always let them know I can also get the matting and framing made for them. This helps them greatly for many do not know what they want, or where to begin in picking matting and moldings.
I always guide them to use the best materials (acid free matting and back board and uv protection glass for the longevity of the artwork and colors within their budgets.)
Always remembering where the gift comes from, I share this joy I feel through the act of painting when the spirit speaks through my brush and seeing that spirit reborn in the faces and hearts of the people who come to share this anonymous gift.
Would you say it has been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you have faced along the way?
My road has been always forward, but sometimes I am ahead of the project or dream. Time is always in the customers hand, but always things flow and work out. During the waiting period I am creating something else. I have grown and expanded over the years, from drawing and working with watercolors, oil paints, using acrylics on walls, and sculptures. Always ready for the next opportunity and challenge. I make things work.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Eileen Seitz Fine Art Inc.?
I have been a full-time artist since 1968 selling original watercolors and oil paintings
In 1980 a Caribbean hotel commissioned me to do 3 large oil paintings. Which I joyfully created and they were very happy. They came back to me and said they had 300 rooms that they wanted to put my artwork in. This was the turning point. I showed them 4 photos of paintings I had recently painted and told them I could publish them for their hotel. Then I started my Poster Business. I exhibited at trade shows back in the 1980’s and displayed my poster prints
Receiving so many hotel projects, worked with hotels directly and designers all over the Caribbean islands and Florida. Some bought the prints, others ask me to do all the matting, framing, shipping, delivery etc.
My artwork speaks for itself and my clients knew the quality of my materials. I was always on time and always in touch. I ran the whole project, ordering materials, delivery to my framers, and collecting the funds to pay everyone.
My services are creating the original artwork, publishing, matting, and framing for clients, I continue to do today.
For Five years I was the artist in residence teaching and selling my artwork on
Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships, Holland America Cruise Ships and Oceania Cruise Ships.
During the winter of 2017 into March of -2018, I was hired as MAC’s Art Director, I worked at four Miami-Dade Boys and Girls Clubs locations each with a team of staff and other professionals. I began by introducing 120 elementary and middle school children the techniques of drawing and then watercolor, next guiding them to create and illustrate their stories with paintings that told their stories.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a happy child, physically fit and curious. I loved to read and be alone creative and shy to an extent, but open to talk with others. More of an observer than a follower. But once kids got to know me, they voted for me to be the leader, at sleep away camp activities, at our playgrounds in Manhattan. I am very sensitive and feel people’s energies and as I grew up, I used my intuition for my artwork and connection with people. I lived in the concrete jungle so the beach and the country were amazing to me. The fresh clean air, just always smelled so sweet to me. My best friend has always been Spirit. My family were not religious in the sense of knowing God, but understood and taught us about being kind, gentle, humane, giving, patient and having integrity in all we said and did.
Pricing:
- Posters $40.00
- Giclees from $60- up depeniding on size
- Originals – depends on painting and Size
- 18″x x18″Pillows, cotton fabrics printed in USA $68.00 each
- Commissions – depends on surface , materials and size
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eileenseitz.com
- Instagram: @eileenseitzart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eileenseitzfineart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-seitz-1248732a2/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eileenseitz
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/eileenseitz/
