ARTIST PROFILE: To keep her creative juices flowing, Franklin painter turns out artwork on a daily basis

As the nation and the world came to a halt from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, Franklin artist Rhiannon Guppy spotted an opportunity.

She and her husband, Steve Guppy, and their two children had moved to Franklin in late 2019, and her busyness with getting settled in and tending to her family had left her with few chances for painting. But then the virus-led slowdown gave her a fresh coat of awareness — there was time enough at last.

“When the 2020 lockdown happened, I had amassed a lot of art supplies and I thought, OK, this is my time to just do something for myself and enjoy it,” Guppy said on the heels of her first Franklin Art Scene showing. “So I did literally paint every single day. It’s just gone on from there and I haven’t been able to stop."

“It’s become such an obsession that I have to paint every day. It makes me feel good. Some people go to the gym. I paint.”

Guppy, who specializes in mixed-medium and abstract landscapes, has now entered phase two of her quest for creating. She has enough work to go public, and, indeed, she sold 11 pieces at the April art crawl in downtown Franklin. It was her first time to present her artwork anywhere except for pieces she has done for friends and family.

“My son was like, ‘OK, we’ve got no more wall space, we’ve got no more room in the bonus room. What are you going to do with all of this? You need to sell it, or we’re going to sink into the earth with that much art.’” Guppy said.

“I think it gave me the confidence to say this is my time to put myself out there.”

Guppy’s creative bent developed in her youth growing up in Leicester, England. She studied art, photography and silversmithing at Loughborough School of Art & Design as well as Sheffield Hallam University. She later met with an old college friend in Leicester, where they joined with three other painters to gather every Friday for coffee and chats while taking brush to canvas.

“It was kind of a real nurturing space,” Guppy said. “There was no pressure. We weren’t painting to create work, but painting just for the process.”

Rhiannon and Steve met while he was playing professional soccer in England, and he is now first assistant coach for Nashville SC. His playing and coaching careers have led to numerous moves for the family, back and forth between England and the United States.

“I think we’re on house number 23,” Rhiannon said.

Guppy’s artwork will be on display throughout June at Herban Market in Franklin. Visit her Instagram page at @rhiannonguppyart to view her creations.