About Us

Co-owners Stephanie Gray and Jenny Hahn

We are two women living our dreams, offering a place where one can retreat from the insanity of the outer world and reconnect with one's true nature. Each of us has worked though life challenges and experienced "dark nights of the soul" and we both have used painting for process as a tool to support us along the way and to come out stronger and freer.

Each of us found process painting by attending workshops with Sarah Oblinger, founder of "Paint or Die" studio in Lawrence, KS. Sarah, who continues to be a teacher, mentor and friend, offers her own workshops through Studio Examino in Dixon, NM. Sarah studied under Stewart Cubley, founder of The Painting Experience in the San Francisco area.

More about us in our own words …

Stephanie:

"I was not a visual artist before attending a process painting workshop in 1998 with Sarah Oblinger. I had no formal art training, so when a friend suggested I go, it brought up a lot of fear in me—I didn't want to look like a fool. But something was stirred deep inside at the possibility of it all. I knew I had to try. Something happened during that weekend workshop and I knew process painting would be with me for the rest of my life.

Among other things, painting has taught me present-moment awareness and self love. I carry these tools with me outside the studio every day and, without them, the loss of both parents and a painful break up would have been too much to shoulder. This work is a powerful agent when working through any type of loss. The more I painted the more I was sure my path was to share the process with as many people as possible.

Once I knew what I was supposed to do with my life, the old ways of being and moving through the world no longer worked, so I quit my day-job. It was scary not knowing how it would look or how I would be supported, but it is an exhilarating adventure. I feel alive and on purpose for the first time in my life."
If you'd like to know more please visit my website

Jenny:

"I was a perfectionistic, over-achieving art major back in college and learned all kinds of techniques and ways to get approval, but what I didn’t learn was how to express myself and tap into my whole being while creating. My inner critic was relentlessly brutal and the self-hatred and shame I felt reached dangerous levels and manifested as an eating disorder. My soul yearned for healing.

When I found painting for process, it immediately helped me unlearn the “rules” of art and return to the present-moment rawness of spontaneous creative expression. It helped me to face the inner critic and not give it power, to find authenticity and eventually to discover an inner joy independent of outer circumstances. 

Process painting has also helped me to discover that which I had said 'no' to in life that my spirit needed in order to thrive, and helped recover and integrate part of my true identity. I am so grateful."