Meet the artist

Elsa Payton in her Studio

Photo by Emily Bass

elsa payton: wife, mom, painter

Elsa Payton (United States 1988) primarily paints acrylic and oil portraits that spark emotional memory in the viewer and communicate common, yet, powerful human experiences. Elsa’s earliest and fondest memories include looking up at the big wooden easel that her dad built for her mom, and painting next to her. Painting has been a constant companion throughout all of life’s changes since painting with her mom as a child.  While absorbing the works and writing of great artists’ such as Daniel Gerhartz, Richard Schmid, Michelle Dunaway and Max Ginsburg, and reading about classical techniques, she has grown and adapted to create her own process through self-directed study and dedicated practice.

While she works in both oils and acrylic, she usually applies a primary palette with minimal additional media using similar processes adapted to the requirement of each medium, giving her the opportunity to study and create each color nuance as she works to bring out the living spark in her subjects. As she brings them to life, she falls in love with each unique personality being revealed. A portrait should not simply reproduce a likeness, but evolve it into a timeless work of art and a reason to reach into our emotional memory.

Mrs. Payton’s work has been juried into three local exhibitions through the Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, Alabama, and garnered multiple awards and significant local recognition since 2023. Her work was recognized as a Finalist in Artist’s Magazine’s Acrylic Works 12: Best of Acrylics in 2025, and earned “Best Painting by an Associate Artist” in the National Oil and Acrylic Society’s (NOAPS) 2025 Best of America Small Works Show at Eisele Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her work has also been exhibited at James R. Ross Gallery of Fine Art at the NOAPS 2025 Best of America International Exhibition in Indianapolis, Indiana, and online in the Allied Artists of America 112th Online Exhibition, the NOAPS Spring Online International, and the International Guild of Realism’s 2025 Fall Salon online. She is currently a Semi-Finalist in the ongoing 2025 Art Renewal Center 18th International ARC Salon Competition. She currently lives, paints, and teaches art classes in Mobile, Alabama.