I have been an artist since childhood, constantly drawing or painting animals (a lot of horses!) and people on every scrap of paper, at every moment of downtime, my mind always busy with stories and places I imagined. Creating work has always given me great pleasure and confidence, it has been a constant defining trait of myself that has never left me. It is how I understand the world around me, as well as myself, it is a blessing to have a passion for art, and I will pursue it for as long as I am able.

My work is a blend of animal and human representation, my style is Impressionist-Realist. I love painterly work, artists such as John Singer Sergeant, Sorolla, Duran, Anders Zorn, Monet, Bouguereau, Waterhouse, and Mary Cassatt to name a few; They are inspirations to me with their command over form and expressive brushwork. To me, being able to simplify a subject down to its most elegant details, and to state them simply and correctly with a bravura brushstroke is the ultimate form of understanding and art making. This kind of work can be looked at hundreds of years later, and one can see the choices the artist made to communicate light and form. It is my ultimate goal as a painter to create this kind of work, and I strive for it every day, though I suspect it will take a lifetime of learning.

My medium of choice is oil paint, I work wet-into-wet, sometimes alla-prima or “in one sitting,” for larger works I work indirectly with a grisaille underpainting, with wet-into-wet over top. It is a challenging and rewarding way of working. Considerations such as economy of brushwork, value, color, shape, and viscosity must be made before applying the stroke. It is a methodical and eloquent way of working, and can be deceptively simple looking in its correctness. I love and appreciate every aspect of working in this way, it is a humbling experience.

I am a mostly self-taught artist. My first teacher and one of the most influential people in my life is my maternal Grandmother. We still paint together every few months, though I am the teacher now. We have a lot of fun pouring over art books, eating home made meals together, and reminiscing over her past created paintings. I attended State College with art fundamentals and printmaking before acquiring a graphic design degree and attending a few painting workshops. I muscle my way through problems in my work and research how to improve, the power of the internet has made learning from mentors all over the world easier than ever before. I am now painting and drawing daily to strengthen my skills and achieve career goals.

I continue to take commission work for pet and person portraits, I’m also making a body of work suitable for a gallery. I am joining more art associations and entering work in local and national competitions and showings, as well as putting myself into the art community with my peers. I am currently working on a series of paintings that blend the beauty of animals and figures with natural forms in interesting compositions. They are painted in such a way that the viewer will want to continue scanning over the brushwork to see how the piece all comes together.
Thank you for taking the time to view my work and support artists such as myself, I hope you feel inspired and joyful when looking at my work.

-Kimberly