Hello, I'm Charissa Smith.

I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where my love for beauty and design first took root. I studied Interior Design at the Maryland Institute of Art, and after years of working with prestigious firms, I earned my license and founded Charissa Seipp Interiors in Houston, Texas, in 1990. But my heart has always been drawn to something deeper. My passion for art, combined with my psychology degree from Mount St. Mary's University, led me to embrace my ultimate dream: painting. Art allows me to express the emotions, memories, and stories that words often fail to capture. Through both acrylic and oil, I work with brushes, palette knives, and impasto to explore the poetry of color, light, and texture. When I paint, I want to transport the viewer into the world I see — scenes that feel like a deep breath, a quiet embrace, a celebration of life’s fleeting magic. Deeply moved by the devastation of the recent Los Angeles fires, I poured my grief, anxiety, and hope into my paintings, channeling raw emotion into every brushstroke—creating what I believe to be some of my most powerful and heartfelt work. Now, more than ever, I believe in the power of art to heal, to uplift, and to bring people together. My hope is that my work offers a place of refuge—an invitation to pause, smile, and step into a world where beauty reigns. I was also recently featured in VoyageLA if you’d like to delve deeper into my story.