-: I'm Clare Spooner, and I'm the principal founder
and everything else for Lucy "Clare" Spooner studios,
which is my own firm.
So I am an artist, I'm a painter,
and I'm also an interior designer.
So it can be anything from doing a full-gut renovation,
where they've bought a new home or an apartment,
and they want it torn down to the studs.
I would love a project like that right now.
But the reality for me, starting out, is somebody needs
a bedroom refresh, a living room refresh.
They want fun wallpaper up on their daughter's room,
that kind of things.
So I scheme, order, find the subcontractors
and put it all together.
If if entails looking at fabrics
and looking at different colors and things,
then I bring a bunch of materials, spread them out
and do kind of a "yes/no" meeting where,
"What are your first impulses, your first reactions?"
I mean, "Do you like this, do you not like this?"
And then I put it together in a little Powerpoint
where everything is in one slide,
so they can get an idea of what the room would look like.
So I break up my painting into two sections
which is my studio time and my practice,
and then I have my commissions.
I really just love to paint.
And so, that's where my practice is really important.
Very soothing.
I started painting, again, when I was out of college
because I needed an outlet.
I needed to get away
from the crazy hustle-bustle of New York,
and just get it out on paper.
And I've kept it up and I'm making a living on it,
which is magical.
The commission is,
you want your dog painted and I paint the dog from a photo.
Usually it's animals, alma maters or houses,
children, families.
My practice side that's, like I said, usually in oil,
but often also watercolor where I'll do studies.
I'll travel in the South of France,
I go to Venice.
Been going to Venice the last few years to paint,
which is a big painting city in art history.
So those trips, I might go for a week or two
and just paint the whole day.
And those are great.
And that's often in oil,
but I also do watercolor sketches before and after
and during, whatever.
And there I'm doing landscapes.
If I can get my hands on a model,
I'd love to paint a model.
I try not to paint from photographs for oils,
but I do sometimes anyway.
Nothing wrong with it,
I just find it static.