In a back corner of Esquires coffee house, a cozy arrangement of sofas and chairs make the perfect setting to sit and enjoy a frothy latté and catch up with friends.
And should the conversation hit a lull, there are always few familiar faces hanging around to help jump start it again —
Rod Stewart’s, Todd Bertuzzi’s, and Roberto Luongo’s, to name but a few.
For the past several years, the walls of the Murrayville coffee house have served as gallery space of sorts for Stacey Wells, a Langley artist whose work runs the gamut from portraits, to plant and animal life, water scenes and architectural images.
Among the largest and most eye-catching pieces she has displayed at the moment is a portrait of Lukas Rossi.
Set against a vibrant red background, reality television’s Rock Star Supernova winner belts out a tune, his spiky bleached bangs hang in his eyes, which are concealed by a pair of aviator sunglasses. It’s one of two paintings she’s done of the goth rocker.
Nearby, a more subdued, classic rock icon Rod Stewart gazes down at the coffee crowd, his shirt rumpled and tie knot loosened as though he’s ready to sit and relax for awhile, himself.
“What I love about (painting) rock stars is the lights and the colours,” said the artist, seated on a couch below the two paintings, clutching a paper cup in one hand and gesturing with the other.
“I want to get the essence of the person, so you can feel their spirit,” she explained.
“Rod Stewart, I love to do.”
In fact, the first portrait Wells ever drew was of Stewart, back when she was a teenager.
“I did it off an album cover and I thought, ‘Wow, I love drawing people.’”
Years later, she and her husband had seats near the stage at a Rod Stewart concert, and much to her surprise and delight, the singer pulled her up to dance with him.
Six months after that, as she was buying Meatloaf tickets for her husband from the same vendor who sold her the tickets to the earlier concert, Wells mentioned the dance to him.
The man told Wells a woman he knew might have taken a photo of her on stage with the rock star.
“It turns out she did.”
Wells bought the photo and framed it, along with the ticket stubs.
She took a second, smaller copy of the picture to the next Rod Stewart concert she attended. This time, her seats were farther back, but Wells gamely made her way down to the front with her photo in hand. Spotting her, the singer once again called Wells up onto the stage.
“So I have a thing with Rod,” she said, with a laugh.
Athletes have also become a staple for the artist, who goes to hockey games and takes pictures of the players to use as a reference.
Her subjects have included several Canucks — including Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden and Luongo — as well as former Vancouverite Bertuzzi.
Portraits of two players who’ve never pulled on a Vancouver jersey, Jarome Iginla and Sidney Crosby, are currently in the works. Many of these paintings have been done as commissions, said Wells.
They’re popular as gifts from wives and girlfriends for the hockey fans in their lives, she explained. Men, on the other hand, tend to commission portraits of their children to give to their wives.
Although Wells does most of her work in acrylics, she makes an exception for the small children’s portraits, she said, “because they look quite lovely in watercolour.”
But she doesn’t limit herself to painting to order.
A recent visit to Beijing compelled her to take on a subject of rather grand proportions — the Great Wall of China.
“I paint whatever inspires me,” said Wells, who is also working on a painting of the U.S. War Memorial on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii — a subject she’s tackled before.
From the time she was a teenager, Wells was encouraged by a pair of high school art teachers to explore her talents in both painting and sculpture.
With two teenage daughters of her own, she sold her first painting “a couple of years ago” after she began displaying her work in Esquires.
“I enjoy the way it’s progressing, just nicely, slowly building,” said the artist of her relatively young career.
Ron Corrado, owner of the Murrayville coffee house, said the paintings serve as conversation pieces for his patrons, and he’s had a number of inquiries from people wanting to buy the original works of art right off the wall.
One customer, Andy Bell, a Langley father of two boys, had seen Wells’ work in the coffee house before laying hardwood floors in her home in 2006.
Noticing similar paintings on her walls, he connected the dots.
He particularly liked watercolours she’d done of her own two daughters, Sammy and Justine, and commissioned her to paint his sons, then three and six, as a Christmas gift for his wife.
Having his boys’ faces captured for posterity, he said, “is a fabulous keepsake.”
To view more of Wells’ work visit www.artistwells.zoomshare.com/
