Paintings With Soul

  Persist watch the video This lesson was recorded the week of January 13, 2025, as wildfires ravaged through the Los Angeles area, my home for 8 sweet years. I ache thinking of the loss of life, devastation to property, the land and her inhabitants, and communities (there is a painting about this in the works).   There's much to mourn in today's world on so many fronts – this art journaling session is specifically structured to provide an opportunity for solace and reflection.   Like the phoenix, we can and will rise from the ashes. Persist is the third   Acts of Art project . Acts of Art’s mission is to leverage the healing power of art and make creative endeavors accessible to all via lesson plans, prompts and projects. You can learn more about Acts of Art and sign up to be part of the mailing list at the link above. Meanwhile, feel free to gather some loved ones and collectively enjoy this newest art journaling experience. Also, there’s plenty of other streamable...

  protection Post US election I felt rudderless. When writing my morning pages that whole week I kept asking for direction. As a fixer I needed a purpose, something that would make a difference in the world. Something that would leverage my personal toolkit for the benefit of others. During the pandemic I (along with   Ardith Goodwin ) livestreamed art journaling lessons on social media. We called the project   #journalthroughit . I continued the daily, then weekly lessons, for about 18 months before shifting to less frequent   streamable content   posted directly to   my YouTube channel . Bringing back free art journaling was one of the initial ideas bubbling up. But I wanted more than a reboot of #journalthroughit. I wanted something that would empower others to lead themselves or a smaller community into the healing power of art. Sort of like a pyramid scheme, but substituting monetary earnings for karmic energy. Acts of Art was born from this idea. Esse...

  robin’s egg blue I have completed some major projects recently - hung a solo show in the fall, filmed and launched an online intuitive painting workshop ( available for purchase, with lifetime access, through Kara Bullock Art School ), completed a community art project for the Detroit Society of Women Painters & Sculptors, launched   on demand art lessons , opened a group show a couple weeks back, created an entirely new body of work for   a two person show   in Denver next month, and am varnishing and readying to ship 4 new, large bear paintings to Whiteside Art Gallery (Cashiers, NC) in early July. It’s no wonder I’ve not released a new art journaling lesson in a bit! Earlier this week I had an afternoon to sit with one of my books and just play. It felt great, to get to make marks with abandon, no worries about anything having to turn out any particular way. That’s my favorite kind of arting, the rudderless sort. Out of that afternoon came this lesson, ...

  Chasing Rabbits, 24"x24" (circular), acrylic on a cradled round panel with a 1" profile, image painted around the sides so no need to frame, $1800 plus s&h   to the first asking nicely . Questions can always come   to me. I keep picturing this as a center medallion on a fabulous coffered ceiling  while I lie on the floor directly underneath it and just daydream. She will also be pretty darned amazing hung on a wall, oozing magic into her surroundings, while you sit across the room and bask in it. I think her magic is infection - you might even start to sparkle yourself. Here is the link to purchase  Chasing Rabbits . Also, scroll down for details on the newest free streamable art journaling session Thoughts & Prayers. Thanks so much for your interest in my artwork, All my best, warmly, Kim   available paintings reproductions join my First Dibs collectors club Watching Paint Dry, a live q&a event my student membership & online classroom Rec...

  The newest installation in my art SOJOURNaling project was released today - The Butterfly Effect is a journaling session rooted in a meditation to connect with your breath paired with a drawing exercise based on manifesting change in the face of the impossible. A lesson created for those of us who have been bruised and battered by the world of late. The art SOJOURNaling sessions are accessible via my YouTube channel. Here's a direct link to   The Butterfly Effect . Read on for details about tomorrow's studio sale, too - five rabbit paintings are looking for homes! i am hopping into summer with a handful of bunny paintings.... (sorry, couldn't resist a bad pun!!) On June 10th at noon eastern, you will find the listing for the above paintings on my website, inside my portfolio under "Available."  Here is a direct link to that page  - just remember that the paintings won't show up until the scheduled time.     If you would like to see detailed imag...

  Sun Moon Ocean is the newest in my series of free creative content hosted on   my YouTube channel . It's been a bit since I last wrote about my new journaling project, a free, self study, streamable series of videos hosted on   my YouTube channel , the most recent of which was published this morning. Each session introduces a series of prompts, ideas or techniques to enhance your journaling practice. So far we have talked about spilling (the writing, not the coffee sort), manifesting intentions, heightened self-care practices and affirmations to carry along our life journey. These classes are starting points - you can mirror my example or adapt to better meet your own leanings. They can be done at your own pace, in your own space, alone or with a group. And because I believe that journaling should be accessible to all regardless of financial circumstances, for the foreseeable future these classes will be entirely free (although there is cost related to produci...

  My New Moon journal page, one of three new streamable journaling sessions now available for free. Back in the day (meaning pre-pandemic) I ran a local journaling group. Our meetings were one of my favorite nights of the month. We all moved our hands (and hearts) together while working in our books. During the pandemic, when gathering in person and sharing art supplies became too risky, Ardith Goodwin and myself began the online   #journalthroughit project . For about 18 months we streamed - for free - journaling lessons designed to heal and guide journalers through the challenging days. Those lessons remain accessible (for as long as Facebook keeps them up!) via my   website . Now it's safer to gather, but many of my previous students remain at risk for various reasons. It's costlier, too, to hold in person classes, and with reduced attendance, well, it seems like it isn't quite the right time to revive my journaling group. However, I deeply miss the connectio...

A couple weeks ago I taught   my first zoom workshop , mono printing in our journals, and it was a wonderful experience. Zoom allows me to demonstrate my process, simultaneously share my journal and my palette, and interact with participants in real time. Additionally, the class video becomes available afterwards for direct download for any students wishing to try the lesson on their own time after the fact. If you haven't yet tried journaling, what's holding you back? There's no need for previous arting experience (I promise you that - as complex as my pages may look, they are simple exercises that can be completed by anyone), no specialized art materials or equipment. And no expectation that what you make will hang on a wall or even ever have to be shared. All you need is the desire to make some marks and play with the tools. So please consider joining us - either in a zoom session, or one of the free   #journalthroughit classes. If you are an avid journaler, you w...

There's a new Santini in town - meet Bean! The Princess brought home a cattle dog-corgi mix puppy over the weekend, and it didn't take long for this little girl to make it onto my easel. Well, actually, into my journal that is. This week's   #journalthroughit lesson   will be one giant dose of puppy therapy. Which, I think given the uncertainty and unrest in the world right now, we all could use. We'll create a mixed media page inspired by Bean - or your own special furry family member. Pull up   the studio's Facebook page   at 11:30am eastern this Thursday (July 23) for the live lesson, or   tune in   at your convenience afterwards. As always, #journalthroughit classes are free, and the programming is   funded by your donations . And if you want even more time working in your journal, join me again at 6pm that same day for   a journal lesson delivered via Zoom   on monoprinting. I decided to offer my monthly...

In   today's #journalthroughit class , students made spirit animal totems using mixed media and inspiration from treasures found during a visual scavenger hunt. Don't know about the online experience called #journalthroughit? here's the Cliff Notes version: art journaling lessons, all ages, all levels (from non-artist through to accomplished), no special materials needed, family friendly, and free ( donations welcome ). Content is live streamed via Facebook ( mine   and   Ardith Goodwin's ), will be archived for a week, and is delivered Monday-Friday. We are two weeks in, but you can jump in at any time and do the lessons in whatever order you wish. Additionally, I challenge you to take   the stencil/templates   from today's class and do something totally unexpected and creative with them. Puppets (and a videoed performance), 3D dolls, other layers in your journal - use your noggin and come up with something really, really good. Next session wil...

Above is a peek at some of the loose pages I've been journaling on while at my desk this afternoon. Ardith Goodwin   and I have kicked our online journaling project, #journalthroughit, off with live streamed content   yesterday   and   today . In our introductory segments, Ardith and I talked about our own journals, some favorite tools, and what the process could encompass. You also got a quick little tutorial on making your own book signature to journal inside. The fun continues   tomorrow morning with Ardith at noon eastern , and I'll step in on   Thursday at 10 am.   Each of us are doing our very best to adhere to this timeline, but as you well know, life may throw a curve ball or two. A reminder that the videos will be delivered via Facebook livestream on either Ardith's page or my own, depending upon that day's host. We are hosting content on our respective websites, adding active links to the videos as they are published....

When I stress, I may pull out my yoga mat and light a candle in a darkened room. I may eat an entire canister of Pringles and get nasty if someone suggests I share. If it's really bad, I resort to obsessively picking my cuticles until they bleed.  But I always, always reach for my art journal. I have been art journaling for about 18 years. What is art journaling, you ask? It's a combination of diary and sketchbook, where anything goes. The creator decides the balance of text vs art, and can bring any media they wish to it's pages. Journals come in a variety of sizes, shapes, bound vs loose pages. It's all about using what you have to express what you feel. Really, the only rule about journaling is that there are no rules about journaling. What do I put in my journal? I am a compulsive list maker, so there's plenty of those. I press flowers and tuck them into tiny folded envelopes of wax paper. Stickers from my morning banana. An overhead view of the ro...