The Artist

Lillian Aguinaga is a painter who lives and works in New Orleans, LA. She grew up in Memphis, TN, and began her artistic studies at a young age. She was awarded a full tuition, talent based, art scholarship to the University of Memphis where she studied as a painter. She relocated to Lafayette, LA, and continued her pursuit of visual arts and received a B.F.A. from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2010.  Lillian's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in both Memphis and Lafayette, including Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, the Hilliard University Art Museum, Gallery 549, and Gallery at Grant St. in Lafayette, LA.

and then there was Painted Paws Studio...

Lillian has always loved animals and grew up with multiple pets in her family. In 2011, she adopted Bauer from Memphis Animal Services. We give Bauer's adoption credit for what sparked the concept of Painted Paws Studio. Bauer was picked up as a stray and brought to the Memphis pound in July 2011. After being there for a couple of weeks without being adopted, he became sick. One of the volunteers knew this meant he would be euthanized, so she saved his life by deciding to foster him. During that time, Lillian ran across his photos on Facebook and couldn't get him out of her mind. After 2 months of "stalking" Bauer's photos, she decided to drive to Memphis and meet him. It was love at first sight as he wiggled straight to her.

To thank his foster parents, Lillian painted a portrait of their rescue dogs, Dexter and Lucy. Since then, she began painting more commissioned pet portraits. With a collaborative effort, the concept of Painted Paws Studio developed and launched in July 2012. The decision was made to donate 10% of proceeds to animal welfare and rescue groups. After all, if it hadn't been for Bauer's foster parents, he wouldn't be here today. He is still with Lillian just as happy as he can be. Most days, Bauer assists Lillian in the studio as her painting apprentice, in between feeding times, walks, and snoozing. You can see more of Bauer on his facebook page - Bauer the GreyStar.