Paintings With Soul

    The cover of "A Dog Named Blue," a labor of love the last couple years.     "A Dog Named Blue," my first children's book, will be available for holiday gift giving. This year.   Some of my fondest memories are of reading with my kids, and this book was designed for just that - snuggling in with your little one and learning the names of colors. Together. I'm finishing up the last bit of editorial revisions, choosing paper quality, and determining binding options.   I'm very excited to share this book with you!! Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com   About Kimberly Santini 

  My Color Partners in Crime, attendees from the LAAG's Getting Fresh workshop in Baton Rouge this last week         Pics from all 4 days of  the Louisiana Art and Artists Guild (LAAG) workshop  are on  the studio's Facebook page  – I pushed these ladies hard, and look at how forced (!!!) their smiles are.   For many, this was their first attempt at acrylics, too, in addition to having all sorts of new concepts thrown their way. They deserve medals of honor for putting up with me. (I did hear something about wringing my neck at one point....)   And despite how mean and rotten a teacher I was, whipping them into a harmonic color mixing frenzy, they sent me home with the dearest gift.   A treasured cookbook of southern favorites.   Filled with signatures and inscriptions recounting all the fun we had.   I am so lucky to count them among my friends!   I miss y...

My easel, prepped with a 10" square panel carrying a blue underpainting.   I am often asked about my easel board when it's included in photos like the one above. This is an 18" x 24" piece of masonite I've been using for years - I duct tape my panels to it, and anchor the masonite into the easel trays.   This allows me greater freedom with my brushwork, especially near the top and bottom edges of my panel. It also provides sturdier support for a variety of panel sizes, more so than merely locking them into the trays provides. This means I can use aggressive brushwork and not worry about the panel shifting or, worse, falling to the floor. I can also tape multiple smaller panels up at once, and work on a series of pieces simultaneously.   I write inspirational phrases on the board and they are slowly buried under layers of marks - the most recent was added last week, courtesy of  Lisa Daria Kennedy , a daily painter I greatly admire: ...