&noscript=1 /> In Honor of International Women's Day: Meet our Founder - StoneImpressions
In honor of International Women’s Day, we wanted to give you a little background on our fearless leader, Melinda Earl, who created StoneImpressions in her side-garage in 1994. 
melinda earl founder stoneimpressions
In 1994, Melinda Earl, a single mother and trained painter, began uniting plaster, oils, china and cloth to produce textured still lifes in her garage. Always trying to improve, she began experimenting with transferring images onto stone. However, the known methods were extremely time-consuming, so she set out to find a better way. After four years of research and experiments, she developed a patented, hand-printing process and founded her first company, PhotoStone.

 

Here are some things you might not know about our founder:

1. Melinda first began experimenting with mixed media by incorporating together materials like cloth, plaster and paint to create still life paintings.  Below is a mixed-media painting she created of her daughter.
 2. It took 4 years and endless hours in her converted side garage to perfect her patented hand-printing process.

melinda earl founder

3.  In 1999 Melinda started her first business Photostone transferring photographs, including newborns, weddings, families, and nature, onto pieces of 8×10 stone to create stunning gifts and keepsakes.  

 

 

4.  She expanded her business in 2001 and founded StoneImpressions.  She began with only 2 employees in a converted Quonset hut in San Diego left-over from WWII, and started to create custom murals of still-lifes, wine musings and landscapes using different types of stone.

Cynara Mural

5. In October 2006, she flew to New York to compete against 40 other female entrepreneurs in American Express’s “Count Me In” program.  She was one of the winners of the top “Make Mine A Million” award. 
 
6. Melinda personally creates the majority of designs and images that go into the StoneImpressions’ catalogs.