a joyful palette

house& home | May 2012 | house and home on l ine . com30

GALVESTON ARTIST FILLS HER HOME AND PAINTINGSWITH INSPIRING COLOR

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH GANDY

A JOYFUL PALETTE

“No way!” thought Loretta Trevino the first time she saw the tattered

house on Galveston Island that would become her home and studio.

“When we first drove up to the house it looked horrible,” remembers

Trevino, a hairdresser by day and artist by night. “There was no paint,

just scrapings on the outside. But we were with a realtor so we went

inside anyway and then something came over me—I loved it. I had to

have the house.”

That gut feeling must have been correct because more than twenty

years later Trevino and her husband Miguel have made the 1892 mid-

island home their own, thanks in large part to Loretta’s design sense and

Miguel’s construction know-how. “I come up with the ideas and put

him to work,” says Trevino with a smile. Through the decades the cou-

ple has renovated the kitchen, enclosed an upper porch and added a

back balcony, refurbished the exterior including the aforementioned

ABOVE: The entry hall and stairwell of Miguel and Loretta Trevino’s home are decorated with many of Loretta’s early painting studies. OPPOSITE: The studio was built off the back of the house,constructed entirely by her husband, Miguel. The Trevino’s dog, Zoe, relaxes on a pink indoor/outdoor rug from Tom’s Thumb Nursery in Galveston.


paint, and, most recently, added an art studio to the back of the house.

For Trevino, the studio off her kitchen, constructed entirely by

Miguel, was a dream come true. “I pictured a studio on the back of my

house. I had a vision for it,” says Trevino. “I needed a bigger space for

bigger canvases and I needed lots of light. I pictured it right next to the

kitchen so I could be painting and maybe I could have a pot of soup

cooking and go back and forth. It was kind of a fantasy for me. I get in

my studio now and I’m so happy.”

Trevino’s work can be found in a number of galleries and shops on

the island, though the work of the prolific artist also spills onto nearly

every wall of her home, bringing an array of color to each room. She is

perhaps best known for her favorite subjects, horses and houses.

“Most of the houses I paint are local,” says Trevino. “Sometimes I’ll

see an old house that needs paint and take a picture. And I decide ‘I’ll

paint it myself ’. I’ll paint it the color I think it should be — I fix it up. I

can use the structure of a house, and then the colors will come to me

during the process. That day, I might be feeling a purple house with a

yellow sky. The sky doesn’t necessarily have to be blue. I love taking

bright colors and putting them against each other.”

The flair for color that Trevino displays in her paintings can be

ABOVE: An orange throw adds a quick and easy punch of color to an artscape in Loretta's dining room. Loretta recommends starting small if big color changes make you nervous. A bright vase, pillow or throw can have big impact in a room. OPPOSITE: A large table in Loretta’s studio is a salvaged antique that now provides storage and display space.


seen throughout her home as well. “I need color in every room,” says

Trevino. “At least a splash—it might be bold, it might be subtle, it

might be bright, but I love to put bright colors together.

I love oranges and reds right now, so I’ve added small pieces to my

house that I can see when I walk in a room. I can walk in the door of

a room and get a ‘zing’ of that color.”

Though her colorful paintings have a strong local following,

Trevino only started practicing her art seriously in the last five years.

“I always wanted to be an artist, but I didn’t have the opportunity in

the beginning,” says Trevino, “So I did hair as my art.” Then, one day

in 2007, Trevino decided it was time to feed her life-long interest in

painting. “Life is going by…and some days something comes over

me. I’ll wake up one day and know this is the day to do something

new.”

The free-spirited style that emanates from Trevino’s paintings can

also be seen throughout the home’s eclectic interiors. “For me furnish-

ings are the same as art—I know it when I see it. I’m not necessarily

into antiques or very modern pieces, but I know when I see some-

thing how I want to put it together. Styling to me is as much fun as

painting.”

“I think I live an artistic life—whether it’s dressing or the house or

hair or painting. All day it’s all about art.”

ABOVE: The spacious new studio constructed by Miguel features ample natural light for Loretta to paint by. OPPOSITE: The mantle in the dining room was found at The Front Parlor in Galveston and anchors a grouping of Loretta’s more subtle, black and white themed paintings.


The two-story home was built in 1892 and is believed to be a cottage that was raised up at some point to add the first floor underneath. Lorretta’s gift for artful arrangement is evidentthroughout the home, including this space at the top of the stairs.

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The upstairs bedroom serves as a dressing room for Loretta, who sees art in many aspects of her life—painting, hair styling, home design and fashion.


Loretta’s Tips for incorporatingcolor into your homeLET PAINT BE YOUR ALLY. “Paint color swatches make meso happy, and color is easy to change if you don’t like it. Somany people are afraid to change a wall color, but it’s so sim-ple.”

FIND INSPIRATION. “I love looking through home décormagazines,” says Loretta. “I suggest people find somethingthey like and use it as a blueprint to explore. There are norules.”

IF YOU’RE NERVOUS, TAKE BABY STEPS. “If there’s acolor you love, start by trying it in small spots—a pillow, avase—something that will bring the color into the room with-out having to make a big change.”

DON’T BE A SLAVE TO MATCHING. “When I see a color Ilove it makes my heart race—it has a direct effect on myemotions,” says Loretta. “If I like that color and I like thiscolor, I put them next to each other. Don’t be afraid to putcolors together.”

Where to find Loretta’s ArtworkDOWNTOWN BLOOMS

2309 Ship’s Mechanic Row, Galveston

LUNA525 22nd Street, Galveston

NEFERTITI202 25th Street, Galveston

WAGNER SOUSA404 25th Street, Galveston

ABOVE: The upstairs studio was originally a porch which Trevino’s husband enclosed. It was her firstpainting studio before the larger one was built more recently off the back of the house. Calvin the catkeeps guard over the artwork.

OPPOSITE: Loretta’s studio features not only her vibrant paintings, but also her talent for eye-pleas-ing storage and display. Even her painter’s toolbox is a visual treat.

a joyful palette

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