Biology teacher Jennifer Lunt had never done watercolors before when her mom’s friend, a real estate agent, asked Lunt to paint a watercolor house for a closing gift to their clients six years ago.
But after watching Instagram video tutorials and learning new techniques, Lunt has now developed a side business selling her art to express her creativity and interest in the natural world.
“I think it's a little bit therapeutic for me,” Lunt said. “And now that people have been interested in hiring me to help capture certain moments [and] being able to share that sentimental side, [the business] just happened organically.”
Now in graduate school and in her first year teaching at SM East, Lunt finds time outside of school to do art — whether that’s creating commissions for customers or starting her own projects for fun.
“I always wanted to be an artist, but everyone tells you to go to school for things, not necessarily your passion,” Lunt said. “So I never thought it could be something I got paid consistently to do.”
Since Lunt teaches biology, she hopes to incorporate artistic projects into her classroom later on, from having students draw food webs to painting a cell.
“I think science, especially like biology, you physically can see it,” Lunt said. “So I think learning through art is a great way to learn and teach biology.”
Her understanding of biology has also influenced her art. Lunt’s currently working on a series with each U.S. state’s flower and bird.
She’s painted her interpretation of Kansas and Maine so far, but has to put her project on hold when she’s busy taking orders from clients, such as watercolor house paintings from real estate agents. When she’s not making commissions, Lunt says she needs to fuel her creative side — so she’ll take on a side project, like her states project, to constantly keep making art.
“It was always just kind of a passion and release of being creative if I'm upset or need to process something,” Lunt said. “Kind of [like] sitting in that quiet space, creating something beautiful, [and] also drawing people's eye to something beautiful.”
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