Barrett Lehrman, Lewis
Haunted Studio
Painting
✨ Legacy Profile ✨
Lew, known as the “Painter of the Dark,” was beloved for the watercolors he created in his “Haunted Studio.” He sold original paintings, cards, prints, and best of all, he’d take commissions to paint clients’ homes as haunted houses. His tagline was: “I’ll haunt your house… and you’ll love it.”
Lew’s paintings evoked nostalgic Halloween nights, with full moons, Victorian mansions, hidden ghosts, overgrown cemeteries, glowing lights, and trick-or-treaters. Many featured playful surprises, like monster faces tucked into stone walls. One of his pieces, titled “Thirteen Spooks, Maybe More,” teases us to keep looking for hidden spirits. They are not always easy to find.
Much of the magic in Lew’s work came from his ability to stir childhood emotions. One of my favorite paintings by him is called “Things That Go Bump in the Basement.” In it, a young child clings to the banister of a basement staircase as the furnace grimaces at him. Anyone who has ever been in a dark, unfinished basement as a child has experienced that fear (and some adults, also!).
Lew was a hands-on artist, obsessed with quality and service. In a 2015 newsletter I still have from him, he wrote: “As always, I still personally produce, check, and sign every print, then carefully package and Priority Mail it to you. You may rest assured that I still stand behind every one!”
His obituary includes what might be his Halloween artist origin story:
“A memory he treasured from his childhood was the overnight train journey to spend the summer of 1944 on a Midwestern farm with his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin Bob. The moonlit farmlands and solitary lit houses he observed from the window of a Pullman sleeper train sparked a lifelong fascination with painting scenes of the night, which eventually led him to discover a vast community of year-round Halloween enthusiasts, for whom—as one interviewer commented—“He captures the soul of the house and adds a whole new dimension to it.”
In addition to being an artist, Lew was a father, husband, graphic designer, gallery owner, world traveler, and educator at the Scottsdale Artists' School. He authored several art books. He was born in 1933 in Bronx, NY, and he passed away in 2023 in Scottsdale, AZ.
Lew’s books are still available, and his Halloween prints and paintings occasionally surface on the secondhand market.
Note the image of the gray house above is a haunted house comission by Lew of Kristen and her husband's first home.
Legacy Profiles honor the life and work of artists who have passed away.