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Walworth artist brings outdoors indoors

Photo

Photo by Kyle Bursaw

Glenna Schilthelm touches up a boat on a mural she is creating in what will be part of a pool house bathroom on lakefront property of Geneva Lake.

Photo

Photo by Kyle Bursaw

Glenna Schilthelm works out the outside of a mural of a porthole looking out, one piece of what will become part of a pool house bathroom with a nautical theme on lakefront property of Geneva Lake. Schilthelm not only paints murals but also will paint furniture for her customers.

WALWORTH TOWNSHIP — Glenna Schilthelm probably knows the crystal blue waters of Geneva Lake better than even those who dip their toes into the water from piers in their backyards.

Schilthelm, a local muralist, has painted the lake and the surrounding landscape at least a dozen times on the walls of homes that line the shores of the lake.

“People here, especially people who have summer homes here, like to incorporate the lake,” she said.

Schilthelm has been painting murals, rooms and furniture in local homes for 15 years, and her business has grown simply through word of mouth. Her work can be found in homes throughout Walworth County—from a late 1800s farm scene in an old barn in rural Walworth to a drive-in theater scene, complete with a snack bar and a scene from “American Graffiti” on the projection screen, at a home in rural Elkhorn.

Painting is her vocation and her avocation.

“It takes me away,” she said. “I feel like I’m someplace else. I become part of what I’m painting. I can pick up a paintbrush and everything just falls away. I truly enjoy it.”

Starting small

Schilthelm, 45, has been drawing and painting since she was a little girl.

“It came so natural … I thought I was supposed to do it,” she said. “It was an instinct I had.”

Schilthelm never thought she’d have a career in painting, and she never went to college for a degree in painting.

“I don’t think people can be taught to be an artist,” she said. “I think they can be taught to perfect their art.”

Schilthelm took a chance at making art her work in the early 1990s, when she got a job restoring stained glass with a company in Lake Geneva. But after seven years, she left the company to pursue her own painting business.

She started small, painting for friends and acquaintances.

“I was just getting my name out there, handing out my cards, showing off my pictures,” she said.

More and more people began to see her work in local homes and businesses and wondered how they, too, could have a unique mural of their own. Her business had taken off.

Schilthelm offers her painting and her interior design consulting as half of the family business, Schilthelm Builders. Her husband, Scott, offers building and remodeling as the other half. The couple have operated the business since 1999.

Schilthelm relies on word-of-mouth advertising and referrals from building jobs and previous painting clients to secure jobs.

“I never wanted to advertise,” she said. “I can only paint as fast as I can do it myself.”

In the zone

Schilthelm most enjoys painting large murals, and as homes get bigger and include more specialty rooms—such as billiards rooms, home theaters and fitness rooms—she finds plenty of opportunities to exercise her creative muscles.

“I like big paintings,” she said. “I can really put a lot into them, create different brush strokes, elaborate designs, detailed things.

“The small stuff is fun, but the bigger stuff makes a bigger impact.”

Schilthelm puts a lot of time and thought into planning each painting. She not only wants it to meet her client’s expectations, but she also wants it to be historically, geographically and anatomically accurate.

When she pulls up in her sport-utility vehicle jam-packed with paints, brushes, drop cloths, ladders and other equipment, she often is greeted by an enthusiastic homeowner.

“They’ll say, ‘I’m so excited,’ and I’ll say, ‘So am I,’” she said. “It might be a Monday, but I’ve been thinking about that painting all weekend.”

Schilthelm wastes no time getting paint on the wall.

“I just start painting,” she said. “I’m constantly thinking about what I’m going to do next—what color I’m going to use, what item I’m going to paint.”

Schilthelm said many homeowners like to watch while she paints. Some will sit quietly, but some will talk, asking questions about her work, she said.

“That can be distracting,” she said. “I’m in my zone.”

And it’s not hard for Schilthelm to get lost in her painting.

“I can paint a room in about a week. I paint pretty quick,” she said. “It’s hard for me to stop. I’ve been at jobs from 8 o’clock in the morning until 7 or 8 o’clock at night before I stop because I get so into it.”

Always painting

The Schilthelm home in Walworth Township is filled with the couple’s work. Scott designed and built the home in 2002, and Glenna has painted many of the rooms with one-of-a-kind murals.

The foyer ceiling is painted to look like the sky.

The walls of a small bathroom are covered with tall grass, where pheasants and other creatures are hiding.

The alcove beneath the staircase is marked by an Italian maiden draped in luxurious purple robes and a songbird on her hand.

“Although I could have every square inch of my walls painted, I’ve been careful,” she said. “I don’t want people to go, ‘Gee, would she just stop painting?’”

Schilthelm probably won’t ever give up painting, but she probably will change her work environment to accommodate for her age and physical abilities. No more craning her neck to paint ceilings and no more standing on wobbly scaffolding, for example.

“No matter what,” she said. “I hope to always be painting something.”