We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elise (Lellopepper) Mesner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elise (Lellopepper) below.
Elise (Lellopepper), thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Keeping creativity alive is a familiar question that’s pretty cool to revisit through the years – it is still not a lock with a single key answer for me, but an ever-shifting, beautiful, demanding movement. My art is still my very first language. There is a tension between the innate and the chosen. And, if I’m not creating on a regular basis, tension kicks in and I become an un-watered thing – I must make something, out of a deep, biological must. Truly, it has not been my job to keep creativity alive; it has been its job to keep me alive. It’s fascinating for some of us artists how this is not a chosen path but a pre-wired destiny. I definitely view my artistic nature as an intrinsic part of being, and a core sense of self, rather than a conscious choice or a skill that needs to be actively ‘maintained.’
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hello hi hi, my name is Lellopepper. I’m an artist with a highly sentient antenna for nature. I’m originally from southwest Detroit and now based in southern California living among a mini-greenhouse and currently collecting redwood pine samples to finish up some delicious syrups and plant-based edible paints. Cool news… I’ve got a new issue of my magazine: Aquapricot (coming out this summer 2026) and it’s a full catalogue of 100 botanical works in the world of sustainability – visual art pieces, fruit bonsais and plant gastronomy for an upcoming solo show, excited to show YOU everything! It’s been 2 years in the making, absorbed in plant-life with a sea and fruit theme – my two favs. Lots of paintings using colorful plants, living sculptures, and some artful recipes like “freshwater bread,” and “berry-nut milks”, it’s the intersection of art, botany and time.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back gives me a feeling that time itself has been an artistic medium, I’ve fallen in love with slow processes, slow living, slow art making, slow observation. Resourcefulness alchemy (turning scraps into value, up-cycling) has been an important quality and even more so in the world today. Patience is another one, I like to let things flow into my life, see what good energies flow right in and what feels good to create. The third area of knowledge would be having sensory sensitivity… over the years, I see that I’ve developed hyper-awareness of my senses. I’m not just looking anymore, I’m tasting, smelling and feeling the balance of the work… This has helped me take my visual arts into the botanical gastronomy arts. My advice to other artists early in their journey, well… I do think it’s so nice to follow your own thoughts esp with creating art, it’s that “figuring it out” part that’s going to set you in the direction that’s authentic to you. Enjoy the “figuring it out part”, enjoy the newness because that’s all part of it too. Playing around with materials is important and discovering what truly makes you happy. For me, using resourcefulness, limiting tools, fewer materials sorta forces you to look at your own environment for solutions. I think innovations sorta pop right in when things aren’t forced but everyone works differently too. There’s this gentleness that I gravitate towards that doesn’t have rigid rules for myself or anyone else for creating, it’s fluffy and somewhere in the spirit of fruits and sea life.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I’d adore to collaborate with more botanists, mycologists, conservationists, researchers and environmental scientists. People who understand the molecular language of plants and ecosystems. I’m always up for partnering with those who are dedicated to environmental protection and regenerative practices.
Wishing everyone a beautiful winter solstice and New Year!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lellopepper.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lellopepper
Image Credits
© Lellopepper®
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