Edina Artist “Paints Your Pleasure” From a Favorite Photo

Ray Meifert finds pleasure in painting for others.

From the issue: June 2012

Photo: Courtesy of Ray Meifert

Ray Meifert's painting "We Met Them Face to Face" depicts Confederate soldiers in the Civil War and was featured as part of the Elmhurst (Illinois) Historical Museum's Letters from home exhibit.

As committed as Ray Meifert is to his art, he never has any qualms about walking away when he realizes the time he must spend on a painting has come to an end.

“Once I’ve finished and put my signature on a painting, I can look at it the same way others do,” says Meifert. “I don’t have an attachment.”

This characteristic likely serves him well since a large portion of Meifert’s work is dedicated to commissioned paintings based on photos submitted by clients. Over the years, he has painted homes, landscapes and street scenes for people living as close as his Edina neighborhood and as far away as Paris.

Although Meifert, who originally hails from St. Louis, received his Bachelor’s degree of fine arts from the University of Mississippi and his Master’s in art from Tulane University in New Orleans, he built a career in the corporate world as a marketing director for 3M.

“After graduation, I was offered a job in New York City as an ‘inker’ for Marvel Comics,” recalls Meifert. “Around that time, I was visiting an uncle and aunt in Chicago. He told me that 3M was hiring sales people. The job paid more than the comic book job and they were offering a car, so I took it.”

Over the years, Meifert, who moved back to Edina with his family in 1992, continued to draw and paint, working primarily in acrylic and oil. He received his first commission from friends when his wife, Wendy, suggested that he could create a painting from the couple’s photo of a Paris street scene. As word of mouth grew, Meifert launched “Paint Your Pleasure!” to promote his commission painting and was soon juggling life as an artist with his role in the corporate world.

“What I really enjoy about art is the fact there are no ‘must-dos’,” he says. “Anything is possible. Doing art always provides an outlet for creativity that the business world doesn’t offer.”