Paintings With Soul

  "Shrine," 24"x30"x1-1/2", acrylic on cradled panel, when available, Shrine will be $1800 plus s&h.   Reach out to me   for further details. I am nearing the end of the preparations for my solo show "Fox Medicine." This has been a year's worth of reflection, rumination, and intense creativity. A cohesive body of work, approximately 70 new pieces, was created while continuing to paint and process a multitude of other subjects during the past 12 months. In other words, I didn't clear my calendar but rather folded the show tasks into what I was already committed to creating. It's been a challenging and busy time and seems a little odd that it will end on Monday when I deliver the artwork. But it won't end, per se. I am certain that she (the fox) will continue to show up on my easel - after all, I headed out of town last week expecting to paint other things, but she cunningly followed along and snuck into 4 of the 7 paintings done on

  "Leelaneau," 24"x24"x1-1/2", acrylic on handmade cradled panel, when available, she will be $1600 plus s&h.   Reach out to me   for further details. I've been on an art retreat (actually I still AM on an art retreat) trying new things with my process. It's been surprising, the sorts of things I'm learning. This one came about from a rainy morning spent with a mug of steaming tea, studying the drip lines and raindrops gathering in the foliage around the porch of our rental house. I decided to start with the leaves, then thought a wolf was showing up. But she decided to be a fox, and who am I to argue? Yesterday I tried my hand at plein air painting on the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes coastline. Tonite I am upping the game and trying moonlit plein air painting. Tomorrow is another round panel of a fox and trees.... or maybe she'll be sand dunes. Saturday I'll try to finish this week's work before driving back home on Sunday. And come nex

  "Amber," 24"x30"x1-1/2", acrylic on handmade cradled panel, $2000 plus s&h. You may purchase her here,   via this link . and another wolf quietly pads in Last week got off to a rough start. I couldn't shake the sensation that I wasn't prepared or capable, for whatever reason. It was unsettling.  I recalled   the powerful dream   I had a couple weeks ago where I regained my footing by leaning into the essence of a wolf. I decided to paint her again, this time as a beacon, a reminder that I have everything I need inside of me. Creating Amber did the same thing as the dream, it gave me strength. Doesn't she feel like an ancient oak tree, wise and sheltering? Like   Honeysuckle (the first wolf) , Amber is also on a handmade oak panel from   Bara Woodshaping . Their panels are akin to finely made furniture. The graining in the surface is subtly exquisite and I have left the sides unpainted to further highlight the quality. The bottom of the painted

"Fire, Water, Air Earth," 24"x30", acrylic on panel, custom framed in a gorgeous, dark rubbed Larson Juhl molding, $1600 plus s&h. You may purchase her here,   via this link . she's back from her adventure and was very well received at the "Here Comes the Sun" exhibition at Starkweather Art Center. I had planned to enter her in another show this fall, but this afternoon I changed my mind. Between my oldest son's wedding (our family couldn't be happier to get to celebrate this together!) and my October solo show, I think my dance card is full enough. Which means she is now ready to grace your walls with promise and strength. Thanks so much for following along with my art journey, warmly, Kim   available paintings reproductions join my First Dibs collectors club my student membership & online classroom Recent online class content has included an examination of finding ideas, in depth exploration of color, behind the scenes details about t

  "Honeysuckle," 24"x30"x1-1/2", acrylic on cradled panel, $2000 plus s&h. You may purchase her here,   via this link. Monday I dreamt of a wolf and Tuesday I started painting her. By Thursday she was done. Here's a video tutorial outlining her process. Yeah, I know. I should have been working on foxes. But when an image shows up with this much power, I was afraid if I didn't settle in right away, the vision would fade, and the resulting painting wouldn't be as strong. In my dream, the wolf was like a vaporous cape that I stepped into. She contained all the voices and bits of things I have pulled strength from in my life. When I wrapped the vestiges of her around me, my body absorbed her and I felt....capable, wise, alive. My cells were filled with everything that mattered. We were one and yet also a million vibrating sparkley bits. Every time in my dream that I became afraid or uncertain, I would look over my shoulder, encounter her again, and

  "Goldie," 24"x36"x1-1/2", acrylic on cradled panel, $2000 plus s&h when available, but first she is (hopefully) heading out to a juried exhibition, where her eligibility mandates she is for sale.   Reach out to me  or sign up for   my First DIbs club   if you are interested in Goldie and I can keep you in the loop. she got the thumbs up from my critique group today which means I came home, photographed her for this newsletter, and placed her on the varnishing table. Then tomorrow I will do the entry form for the juried exhibition I'd like to see her be a part of. This piece both gives me goosebumps and elicits one deep, cleansing breath. Like I mentioned, she is headed to out (hopefully to a juried event in September and then, if she remains unsold, to my solo show in October). She has to be for sale at both of those installations. Should she come home to me from those outings, she will be offered to my collectors club (the First Dibbers) before getti