Today we’d like to introduce you to Payton Mullinax
Hi Payton, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up just outside of Charleston (Goose Creek specifically), a traditionally conservative area, what was deemed “lady-like” determined much of the way I lived as a girl and young woman. Back then, I did the lady-like things that were expected of me: I stayed quiet and didn’t share my controversial opinions, I took up as little space around others as possible, and I was always putting other people’s needs above my own. I felt constricted and smothered. So, when I was 19 I did a really un-lady-like thing; I started smoking weed.
My newfound love for weed came with a newfound love for rebellion and questioning norms. Weed opened me to my authenticity. I started living how I wanted, regardless of what my family, friends, and peers would think. I found that following my joy and curiosity, rather than others’ approval, made for a more meaningful, happy and peaceful life.
In my art, I capture that essence of rebellion through elements of glamor, femininity and bright color, contrasted with sometimes vulgar, edgy and risqué aspects. The art I create gives audiences the permission to say “screw it” to society’s norms and do life their way, as well as portraying the multifaceted nature of humans, especially women & femmes.
My pot-inspired paintings aren’t your typical trippy stoner art. The work is influenced by the luxurious Art Deco aesthetic, but with bright colors and a contemporary twist. My first official series is named “The Hollyweed Collection,” named after the iconic stunt pulled on the Hollywood sign making it read “HOLLYWeeD” in 1976, and again in 2017.
I’ve always loved painting (and basically any form of creativity), but in 2019 I was particularly inspired to create cannabis-centered art, drawing from the transformation it was giving me physically, mentally and spiritually. Before learning how to regulate my nervous system, I suffered from painful chronic health issues, and I hadn’t found relief from the symptoms until I started smoking weed. To clarify, weed wasn’t the thing that healed my chronic health issues (regulating my nervous system was), but physically it gave me the ability to live and function with much less pain than before I consumed cannabis. Doctors hadn’t been able to give any helpful solutions, so weed truly was a saving-grace. Mentally, it influences my creativity, gives me an alternative to alcohol (I quit drinking in August of ‘23) and influences me to slow down, be present and not fall back into the unsustainable fast-paced life of our collective society. Spiritually, it connects me back with nature and reminds me of all of existence’s oneness at an energetic level.
Pretty Stoned Art is so much more to me than just weed paintings. It’s a movement of infusing luxury into a lifestyle that’s still so harshly looked down on. It’s a movement of de-stigmatizinig consumption, normalizing use, supporting wider accessibility to the plant and moving towards healing the societal damage done by the War on Drugs. It’s about self-acceptance and self-expression in a world that so desperately urges you to conform. It’s about rebellion, reclamation and reformation.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Although I started painting weed in 2019, it took me up until the summer of 2023 to really embody the life of an artist and commit to my creative practice. My hesitation was mostly around the self-doubt I felt as an artist with no real formal training and the fear of rejection from family and friends. For so long I felt like my work was not good enough, too weird, too expensive and even, simply useless. To work through that, I’ve continuously followed my heart and done a lot of self-validation, to a point of delusion. But hey, now I’m in an article, so looks like the delusion is working!
I had a few particularly rocky times while struggling with alcohol and cocaine use until I got sober in August of 2023. I’ve even had 2 nights that I have relapsed since then, but still celebrate my sobriety in August because I don’t want to hold myself to an impossible standard of perfection. Staying sober is a challenge on many days, easier on others and utterly rewarding at the end of every single one. Being “Cali sober” with weed helps me refrain from the substances that influence me negatively.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a San Diego-based acrylic artist that paints cannabis-centered fine art for the glamorous stoner soul. I focus my online content around a marijuana-infused lifestyle, curating maximalist interior scenes, and sharing about the art of manifestation. These all bring a feeling of magic to my life that I believe more of the world could use in their daily experiences, too.
I also do live painting sessions for events.
I’m most proud of my commitment to sobriety. It has profoundly changed me – or maybe it has just helped me remember who I really have been all along, a conscious and creative being.
A lot of things set me apart from others. I’m extremely loud and proud about my cannabis consumption, the juxtaposition of being “sober” but a smoker, my disdain for the fast-paced, rigid structure of our society and my refusal to live that way, my love for being a hermit, my stance on reality being created from within your mind rather than from the outside experience, and my deep curiosity that fuels my creativity and life’s expansion.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Humans aren’t meant to work 40-hour work weeks.
Pricing:
- Floral Fume (24 x 36 in) $5,000
- The DDevil Wears Marijuana (16 x 20 in) $2,420
- Girl’s Night In (14 x 14 in) $1,200
- Raw Papers III (16 x 20 in) $1,200
- Hollyweed Hills (10 x 20 in) $650
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paytonmullinax.com
- Instagram: @pretty.stoned.art
- Other: my newsletter “Smoke Break” brings more magic to your life with conversations around cannabis, creativity and consciousness: https://www.paytonmullinax.com/smoke-break
