Glenda Shulleeta was an interior designer before becoming a full-time painter but it was her job teaching elementary school art that most influenced her style. After raising her children, Shulleeta decided to reinvent herself and earned a BFA in Interior Design from VCU. Her design dreams were dashed when the economy tanked and she took a job substitute teaching. She enjoyed it so much she signed up for school again, earning a teaching degree from U of R which lead her to teaching elementary school art. Shulleeta learned a lot from her young charges. “They took so much joy in their art. They taught me how to let go and let my art flow.” Her young teachers inspired her to experience art the way they experienced it and to “just go with it.” “I don’t look at anything when I paint,” Shulleeta says. “All my paintings are from memory and I just go with the motion of them. That is how children paint.”
Glenda Shulletta, "Flowers of the Field," Mixed Medium, $890
Another way that Shulleeta expresses her joie de vie is by playing with the décor in her beautiful Goochland home. “I intentionally chose calming white and off-white neutrals so that spaces can be easily changed with colorful accent pieces,” she says. “I also move paintings around which I find brings out different aspects in them.” You can watch how her home changes with the seasons by following her on Instagram at #glendashulleetastudio. Her decorating advice is the same as her advice for aspiring artists, “Gravitate towards colors you love and it will all work out.”