Brush with success

     By Todd Dewey
     View staff writer
      Stephanie Blseck didn't realize she was an artist until she was 26 years old. Now, nine years later, the late-blooming Blseck is trying to help children in Pahrump discover if art is one of their talents.
      Blseck, who has worked as a professional artist since discovering her gift eight years ago, has offered Kids Art classes in Pahrump since August. Classes, which cost $10 apiece, are scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. every Saturday at Tippy's Consignment Shop on Loop Road. Classes are geared to youths ages 5 through 12. Tippy's also offers adult art classes.
      "It's all artistic, not crafts," Blseck said of her class. "I want them to learn how to express themselves through art. I want to share the love of art with the kids. Some kids might not understand that they have a talent, so I want them to discover it when they're young and then hone their skills and become stronger.
      "It's a good outlet. There are a lot of pressures out there and I want them to have something to fall back on."
      Blseck provides the supplies for aspiring artists and covers a wide range of mediums, including computer art, cartoons and painting and drawing.
      The projects vary in each class. One day, the kids might do a drawing and Blseck will put it on a T-shirt for them. Plaster of Paris boxes may be featured in another class while the kids might make cards with the help of refrigerator magnets or complete an oil painting on another day.
      "They'll always leave with something," she said. "They definitely have fun, and the parents have fun, too."
      While Blseck said she isn't a traditional art teacher, several home school students earn credits in her class.
      Blseck's specialty is window painting, which she provides primarily for businesses looking to advertise something or to simply spruce up the place and get in the holiday spirit.
      Blseck, who painted the windows at the now-defunct Grumpy's Video and Yogurt and at Plantation Plaza in Pahrump, among other locales, is trying to raise funds to hold an art show in town next summer. She said she will donate 40 percent of the proceeds from her holiday window painting towards the proposed show.
      The show will feature several different stations, such as a pastels station, a pottery station and others, including silk screening, computer art, and different types of paints, such as acrylic or oils.
      Blseck was inspired to do the show from a similar one she attended as a young girl. However, it took another young girl -- her 9-year-old daughter Amber -- to inspire her to further pursue art.
      "I didn't know I was an artist until my daughter got sick (eight years ago) and it was a coping skill. It's a gift," she said. "I thought it would be fun to paint something on a business window and I was going to copy a picture, but my husband (Mark) said `You can do this, you don't need a picture.' "
      Sure enough, she didn't need a picture and has been at it ever since. She also painted for the Children's Hospital and the nonprofit organization WECAN (Working to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect) in Las Vegas before moving to Pahrump.
      Blseck, who is self-taught, said her class can complement the art curriculum offered at the public schools.
      "It's just from a professional point of view," she said. "I didn't go to school to learn how to be an artist. I am an artist."
      Blseck has her own unique style of painting.
      "Some people draw images and then fill in the color, like in a coloring book, but I do it almost backwards," she said. "I draw the colors and then fill the lines in. I can see shapes of something but not the fine detailing. The fine detailing comes later."
      Blseck's husband knows a little about fine detailing; he's worked in the printing business for 20 years and has owned Sunset Graphics in Pahrump since 1995.
      Those interested in Kids Art classes or window painting can contact Blseck at 727-2335.