Foxxy Fine Art – Lillian Fox and Stephanie Guevara

By Emma Hartman

It all started with a cherry blossom mural on a little girl’s bedroom wall. Lillian Fox was just 3 years old when she helped her mom, Stephanie Guevara, transform her room into a flowering landscape—their first of many creative collaborations to come. Neither could have imagined that this playful moment between mother and child would one day bloom into a business. But bloom it did.

Today, the two run Foxxy Fine Art, a mural-focused LLC bringing bold, vibrant artwork to schools, storefronts, public spaces, and private homes across the region. In the past year alone, they’ve completed more than a dozen large-scale pieces—each one a celebration of color, movement, and community.

Stephanie has always been artistic. When she left home to play collegiate soccer, she dreamed of studying fashion design, but after seeing senior exhibits in the program, she felt intimidated and uncertain. Opting for a more practical path, she followed many family members into education. Still, like many creatives, she soon realized passion doesn’t take kindly to being sidelined. “If something is within you,” she says, “I think that in order to be true to yourself, you’ll always find your way back to that—that quality that you possess, and that true love.” Eventually, her professional identity evolved: first educator, then art educator, and finally, practicing artist.

It was through her role as an art teacher that another—now seemingly prophetic—intersection of Stephanie’s and Lillian’s creative journeys occurred. Lillian was placed in Stephanie’s art class in fifth grade and the artistic guidance her mother had always provided at home began to meld with formal instruction. Lillian later enrolled in the Visual Arts program at Manatee School for the Arts, where she also trained in dance—a discipline that continues to shape her visual style. “I paint to show how it feels to move,” she says. “Not just dance specifically, but the universal feeling of being in motion.”

After graduating from MSA, Lillian went on to pursue her BFA at the University of South Florida. With graduation just around the corner, she and Stephanie are making good on their promise to ensure Lillian is never a “starving artist.” The dream, for both Lillian and Stephanie, is to be able to wake up every day and create pieces that inspire and capture the essence of what it feels like to move through the world. Together, they’ve found their rhythm—balancing each other’s strengths and instincts in a way that allows both to shine, from color choices to brushstrokes to playlist rotations.

“Sometimes I’ll get too close while we’re working,” Stephanie laughs, “and she’ll go, ‘Girl, you’re always where I need to be!’” Other times, they pick up where the other leaves off—like when Lillian hit a wall while painting a tree and Stephanie jumped in with fresh eyes. “As an artist, you can get stuck—questioning the size, shape, angle—but with Lillian there, I don’t have to problem-solve alone. I can just turn and ask, ‘What do you think?’ and we move forward. It’s seamless.”

Of course, even a seamless process has its bumps. Like any great partnership, theirs includes the occasional disconnect, but it’s their ability to pivot and extend grace that transforms those moments into growth.

Take the Riverwalk piece for the (BAM)Fest. “We had brainstormed a bit, but not on the color palette,” Stephanie recalls. “I was unloading the car, setting everything up—because I’m the heavy lifter—and when I came back, Lillian had already laid down a full wash of this bold, fluorescent orange-pink. I wasn’t expecting it, but she just looked at me and said, ‘Trust me. Trust the process.’ And she nailed it. Bright, electric, fun—it captured the whole energy of the event.”

That event gave the public a front-row seat to their dynamic. Positioned along the Riverwalk, facing the bridge, the duo painted live as festivalgoers passed by. The piece began with Lillian’s surprise palette, but it evolved into something collaborative in every sense. “It was totally different from what anyone else was doing,” Stephanie says. “And as people came by, Lillian started incorporating them into the scene—quick figure sketches, done right there in the moment. That’s not easy. To stop someone for five minutes, really see them, and translate that into a painting as they walk away? That’s incredibly difficult for any artist.”

For Stephanie and Lillian, art is more than just a career path—it’s about translating their internal language and creative connection into joy for others. Their work is about literal transformation—a blank wall, a dark corner in someone’s home—but it’s the ongoing transformation of their bond echoing through their work that sets Foxxy Fine Art apart. And while the canvas may shift with each new project, one thing is certain—this mother–daughter duo is just getting started.

With her college career coming to a close at the end of the year, Lillian is already thinking about what’s next. She hopes to share her vivid oil paintings—works she’s developed and refined throughout her BFA thesis program—not just with professors and peers, but with the public. “I want our art to be viewed,” she says. “It’s not just for our pleasure. I mean, once art is made, is it really for you anymore, or is it for the viewer?”

Stephanie, too, is stepping into new terrain, preparing to showcase her landscape work at regional art festivals while continuing to grow Foxxy Fine Art alongside her daughter. Together, they’re leaning into momentum, building on their successes, and remaining open to wherever their creativity takes them.

What began as a tree mural on a bedroom wall has blossomed into something far bigger than either of them imagined—and it’s still growing.

To view more of their work or inquire about commissions, visit foxxyfineart.com, follow them on Instagram @foxxyfineart, or connect via Facebook at @foxxy.fine.art