Courtney Cursinger opens the door to a studio tucked away on the second floor of the Owens Art Center. The room is filled with open oil paint tubes and messy pallets. Hanging on the walls are half-finished oil paintings in bold colors.

Cursinger is a painter who moonlights as an advertising student at SMU. She also has a deep love of literature and classic novels. Along with her demanding schoolwork and an internship at Dragonfly, she manages to get through a new novel every three weeks. Some of her favorite reads are Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens and Born On A Blue Day by Daniel Tammet.

“Reading is my greatest escape in life, it allows me time to free my mind, and travel somewhere new everyday.” Cursinger said.

Cursinger, found the best way to channel her creative energy as a painter, and her love of reading, was to turn her favorite novels into oil paintings.

She is currently working on her fourth work after selling two paintings successfully. For Cursinger creating these paintings is a way to express her love of reading beyond words. Other eyes are catching on to her talents, too.

“I originally started creating these paintings to satisfy my own creative fancy. When they started selling however, it gave me more incentive to work harder.” Cursinger said.

She recently sold her latest painting to her friend’s father John Lekas of Nashville, TN. It was a painting interpretation from one of his favorite books, Born On a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet. It now hangs in his office, and he sends Cursinger email updates about the compliments he receives on the painting.

“Nothing could be more gratifying then knowing other people see the vision I’ve tried to communicate through these paintings,” Cursinger said.

Mr. Lekas runs a successful commercial real estate company in Nashville. Cursinger’s work resonated with him when he saw it over SMU Family Weekend. They bonded over their love of literature and the modern interpretation of it. When he found out they shared the love of the novel Born On a Blue Day, he said it would be his pleasure to commission an artwork. The book is about a young boy who is an idiot savant and his challenges.

“Courtney’s work brings joy to my otherwise gloomy office” Lekas said in an email interview.

Her latest work is focusing on the famous novel A Tale of Two Cities. So far hanging in her studio she has several layers of dark blue shades on the canvas. Courtney is intending to work in streets and add in the faint color of city lights from a distance. The novel depicts the brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the French revolution.

“My work at first glance is not for everyone, but if you have an understanding of literature it should resonate with you in some way.” Courtney said.

Cursinger
plans to keep a studio in her apartment after graduation in May. She will
design her work schedule in advertising to block out time every day for her
art.