Paintings With Soul

Inspired by the work of David Shevlino, done overtop a sketch completed in Aprils 30Dogs30Days. This is "red Shevlino," an 8x10 acrylic painting done on canvasboard. He is $199 plus s&hto the first asking nicely. I take paypal, venmo, personal checks and payment plans. Inquiries may come   to me   - thank you! Artists pull inspiration from a variety of sources. A revisit to The Little Prince firmly lodged the fox's words in my head:  "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eye." And that got me thinking, how the heck do I paint things that are essential and therefore intangible? It got me googling last night - I started out with an exploration of edges and how various treatments achieve different results. I got distracted by   Gregory Manchess's   paintings, and ultimately ended up on   David Shevlino's   website (and of course I had gloriously colored, fractured, blurrey edged dreams!). This morni...

A couple of things came to mind today - one followed from a seemingly callous comment of a stranger on my FB page, calling my recent work "garbage." Further conversation with this individual revealed that they felt my work was "too literal." Ok, "too literal" is far more interesting to ponder than "garbage." As I worked my way through the concept of literal, I began to visualize all the ways - other than symbolically - I could depict things like fragility, feeling inconsequential, immortality, and learning to speak up. Today I embraced one of those approaches - allowing my form to dissolve into the ground. Sort of like she's melting - yet she's still fully present for the moment. Two of the studies I approached in this way are pictured above. I have no end result in mind for these - yet - but I am spending time alone with them, asking myself lots of questions, and listening for answers. How does intensity of color impact my ...

My brave crewe of painters from the Louisiana Art and Artists Guild. I've been in Baton Rouge the past week, painting alongside these lovelies, working on color, brushwork, and what it means to honor one's path as a creative. They were fearless and inspiring, each one tackling their own wish list of lessons and finding ah-ha moments. Including me! Now I'm in New Orleans with  Dianna Reilly (A.K.A. Stella Gray)  for a few days. New Orleans is the perfect setting for further discussion about the way creativity weaves itself into our lives, and how we can best feed it. There are also grits. Lots of grits.

Pictured above are a few of the paintings I've completed as coursework this week in Lynn Whipple 's Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting  online workshop. For reference, the larger piece on the ground is 24" x 30". I'm working big, and bold, and a little wild! I learn so much when I take classes from other artists. Besides the obvious content, I get to see how others' teach and how they structure their lessons. And then I get to continue to learn by practicing the lessons on my own, inserting my own ideas and agenda, and determining which processes are keepers. I really need to reel myself in, though, this time around. I am so inspired by Lynn and the exercises (working with neutrals and layered drawings), my brain is going on fast forward, piecing together all sort of possibilities. I couldn't even sleep last night (yes, I know I am OCD). In between all of the above, I did some complete some serious work on a commission. But I also need to...

Demo-ing the idea of blocking in quickly, photo courtesy of Douglas Nelson Photography   Last weekend I had the distinct priviledge of painting with a baker's dozen. Artists, that is. (Although painting donuts would be a lot of fun (a la Kelley Macdonald ), hmmm.) Not to be sidetracked by cruellers, I was truly impressed by the work ethic and attitude these painters possessed - I pushed them far out of their comfort zones and they didn't complain one tiny bit. Warm thanks to The Craft Shack for hosting our days, and many hugs going out to my new students and friends. See what they did  and find out how you can be a part of the paint slinging . It's rumored I'll be returning to the Orlando area to teach again next year. I'm making a mental note to add donuts to our list of still life props! Thanks for following along with my artwork,  Kim  ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

photo courtesy of Sharon Passmore   Prepare class timeline Review exercises, verify demos for each - if not on hand, create, tag, and include Review slideshow/presentation materials - update as needed Refresh bibliography and assemble workbooks Print out extra worksheets Pack props, including candies and treats (purchase fresh) Pack tools, brushes, paints, panels Revise and print out scripts for directed content Prepare demo references Select finished paintings to match/illustrate lesson plans - wrap carefully Verify destination - program GPS Pack personal effects Review 100 times and make sure nothing's been forgotten Stop on way there and purchase whatever's been forgotten Wednesday I collect  Elizabeth St Hilaire Nelson  from the airport, and we head to Traverse City together (she's teaching this weekend too). Thursday the madness begins for both of us and our "kids."   I get tingley just thinking about it - I love teaching! ...

  10 Minute Tootsies - the idea is that the artist has 10 minutes to create a study and capture the essence of one still life object. Sort of like gesture drawings, but done in paint.     Today I began designing my lesson plan for next week's  4 day painting workshop  in Baton Rouge. Sure, it would be far simpler for me to teach the exact same thing each time I ran a workshop, but since I learn so much from day to day with my own work, I feel like it's only fair that I revamp and refresh my workshop contents regularly, too.   So I reviewed all my favorite exercises, created a few new ones, and grouped them based on the two topics we are focusing on heaviest - color and brushwork.   And I'll spend this afternoon working up new demos and collecting props/materials.   I can't WAIT to reveal the exercises to my students! It's like Christmas!!   Thanks so much for following my artwork and enjoy your weekend...

      IN PROCESS:  "Gettin' Jiggy"," 11" x 16", portrait of a mixed breed dog playing in shallow waters, done in acrylic on museum quality panel, $609 (when finished, which should be tomorrow). Is this one yours? I can make it happen - just  let me know !   I went to a painting demonstration last nite , and as a consequence spent today working more slowly, carefully considering each brushmark and analyzing color decisions.    The dog's local color (orange-yellow) + reflected color (yellow) + light temperature (yellow) = lots of yellow, and yet I want to add pinks and oranges and buffs in there too. But yellow is good, especially Indian Yellow, which I've used about a half tube of in this painting so far.   And then if the light is warm, like the noon sun, shadows are cooler. Which means more blue in the shadows, but only a cooler blue - none of those cyans and turquoise's I've been loving lately. Bu...