Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Stubbs and Penny Treese.
Liz and Penny, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
How often do you see yourself through the lens of love?
If you’re like us–between us, we are mom, sister, daughter, wife, artist, photographer, entrepreneurs–looking at our own reflections in the mirror is not a love fest. We may see that we didn’t sleep well last night. Or those fried pickles are creating a little extra love (& not the groovy kind).
And it weighs us down. We carry a heaviness in our hearts and our beings when we live with these underlying perceived shortcomings, flaws, or ways we feel we might not measure up to some expectation.
Friends and creative collaborators for close to two decades, fine artist Penny Treese and portrait photographer Liz Stubbs, decided enough was enough. We, and all our women friends, could live with so much more exuberance, vitality, and limitless possibility if we shifted how we see ourselves… if we saw beyond the mirror and saw the amazing beauty radiating within.
What if women could see themselves as ART?
Amidst 2020’s global transformations, CELEBRATION PORTRAITS was born. The experience is custom-tailored to each woman or to each pair. We begin with photographic portraits that capture your expressive energy, your dynamism or reflective quiet, your zest, and sparkle. As we curate the images from the portrait session, several emerge as contenders to be alchemized into a mixed media fine art piece that celebrates YOU AS ART.
By shifting how we see ourselves–seeing ourselves as vibrant, joyful, authentic and radiant–we are empowered in how we show up in our lives. Celebration Portraits are transformative. And they are even more delicious when shared with someone special–mothers and daughters, partners, grandmothers and grandchildren, best friends.
In short, we are exceedingly honored and passionate in creating each person’s experience as a celebration, as love, a powerful visual talisman for seeing ourselves as limitless.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like all journeys, we flow with excitement and exuberance about our mission, and we struggle with getting our offering out to the audience that resonates with it.
We know price of the bespoke experience can be a restraining force, as women may see creating Celebration Portraits of themselves as a luxury. We understand and are happy to also offer group experiences in our Celebration Circles at different price points.
We are also excited to be offering in time for 2021 holidays a downloadable video experience to empower women on their own time.
Our guests thus far have all shared the experience as powerfully empowering, a therapy of sorts, that they come away from standing tall in their own voice and vision for themselves and their lives.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
LIZ: I am a heart-led creative who has written for newspapers and authored books, edited video for broadcast, produced and directed for web, TV and corporate clients, and through it all I carried my camera. I began exploring the world through my lens, considering myself a street photographer, but pivoted to portraits when I was challenged by a mentor to find myself in my work. I realized I was hiding in my photography, and that blossomed into a passion to empower those in front of my lens to show up in their full truth and expression. I adore celebrating people’s light, and I happily dedicate my creative life to enabling people to see themselves as the radiant beings we each are.
PENNY: Although I specialize in the ancient Egyptian medium of encaustic painting, I revel in experimenting with methods that stretch my consciousness. While immersed in a series surrounding the raw beauty and fragility of the female form, I was moved to distress the figures with rainwater, wine and tea. The process became as healing as the final piece – unique expressions of physical declination and ephemeral existence while unveiling profound truths about how we see ourselves. As women responded, sometimes shedding tears as they observed my artwork in exhibits, I realized that I wanted to share this transformative, healing experience with others. I am most passionate about the experiences that Liz and I are offering that alter the way women show up in life and truly SEE themselves as being of ageless, timeless, light.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
It is more imperative than ever to flex our resilience muscles and to energize love in the midst of confusion and turmoil. Seeing ourselves with a lens of love empowers all our best energies and outlooks. Practicing celebration in our lives makes us present to gratitude for so many moments we might have overlooked had we not experienced this shift.
Pricing:
- Celebration Circles begin at $348
- Celebration Portraits begin at $2200
Contact Info:
- Email: liz@
lizstubbsphotography.com and pennytreese@comcast.net - Website: www.
celebrationportraits.art - Instagram: lizstubbs and pennytreeseart
Image Credits
Liz Stubbs
