let. Her husband, Jordan, a fitness trainer 
and motivational speaker, owned CrossFit 
Bloomfield, and Levin soon found that it 
was her own golden ticket to overcoming 
her distaste for sweating and achieving 
mental and physical empowerment. She 
became a trainer at and co-owner of 
CrossFit as well as a yoga instructor.
“I thought, ‘I’m a coach, this is what I 
am now,
’” Levin says.
But she didn’t realize how much she 
missed her first passion.

BACK TO FIRST LOVE
Before the COVID pandemic hit, Levin 
had already made a conscious return to 
art, painting abstracts, portraits (of people 
and of pets) and baby gifts (like wooden 

rocking chairs). But when forced into 
quarantine, Levin realized something. 
“When the pandemic hit, like many peo-
ple, I had time. And I thought, ‘If I’m 
going to live like a hermit inside my home, 
I need color and joy,
’” Levin says. “Outside, 
it was misery. Inside, I wanted my home to 
be rainbows and kittens.
”
The mostly white interiors of the 
Commerce home she shares with Jordan 
was just a blank canvas waiting to happen. 
Standing in front of a pair of French doors 
one day, Jordan came across his wife just 
staring.
“He knew I was up to something,
” Levin 
says. “He could see the wheels turning. He 
said, ‘You want to paint those, don’t you?’”
Levin set to work on the French doors, 

“IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU’RE 
PASSIONATE ABOUT, FIND A WAY TO DO IT.”

— HILLARY LEVIN

continued on page 32

Levin transformed 
a garden flamingo 
into a hand-painted 
indoor work of art.

The acrylic-painted 
French doors were Levin’s 
first “living art” project.

A free-hand 
painted coat 
closet

APRIL 22 • 2021 | 31