Been busy & "Songbird Solo."

Whew! It's been busy.

I just finished up the 4 office
paintings (I'll upload them soon), finalized some of my jungle animals & submitted them to a company for consideration on their next project, and I am getting ready for my first art class I'm teaching for adults tomorrow morning...yikes!

The painting here is called "Songbird Solo" and is available on ETSY.com. It is done on paper using acrylic and pencil.

Take care, everyone!

Custom Art for a business...

Just wanted to show you what I have going on in the studio...aka my kitchen island!

These paintings (plus a larger one I haven't started) are for a practice that offers
children and young adults Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy.
A woman who works there was visiting the elementary school my Mom works at and noticed the paintings I did her office. She said these are just what she was looking for. I'm so glad she found me :)

Fall Leaves in Water

Yes, these are fall leaves soaking in my corning ware dish! I did this to preserve the colors as much as possible so I could use them in my artwork somehow.

My neighborhood has no trees so I picked these leaves up at my kids preschool. It is located in a college town with beautiful old homes and tons of gorgeous trees. I just love the fall and its colors and wanted to capture them. My last two attempts to bring leaves home resulted in them drying out as they were left in the car. These were starting to dry so I wanted to try to save them. I will share the art with you when I am finished :) Take care!

The Green Chair painting

This is a painting I did back in college in Charleston, SC. It was just before spring break when I found out that we were not allowed to stay in our dorms. My home was in NJ and I didn't have a car to drive home, or money for a train ticket, and couldn't find someone to carpool with. Thankfully, friends of mine lent me their apartment downtown. I had it all to myself!

The weather was unusually cold and rainy. All I had with me were shorts and t's! I definitely should have checked the weather. The apartment was freezing because I couldn't locate the thermostat in the 100+ year old house. Even the neighbors who live in similar homes couldn't find it. Since I pretty much had to stay in the house, I worked on a painting of the family room. They had this fun green chair and great "bowl" table. The perspectives are off but it definitely wasn't meant to be perfect. I was sad that I was pretty much alone (friends were visiting family) and wished I could have seen mine but also happy to have privacy and my paints with me on that cold spring break :)

Almost finished BD card...

Last week I submitted some Birthday and Get Well card
designs to a card company. I really wanted to submit this elephant and mice illustration as well but thought it needed some more shadowing...and tusks!

Teaching and a little "stage fright."

Teaching art to kids is something I really wanted to do back in college. Strangely enough, I got so nervous standing in front of a classroom...even if it was a room full of adorable kiddies!

A few months ago I was asked to teach a beginners painting class for a local Mom's group. I was excited to get the opportunity as this would be a big step in overcoming my little bit of nervousness speaking in front of a crowd. I said "yes!" Then I found out that I would be not be teaching the kids but the Moms! Needless to say, I got a little nervous again but am definitely going through with it.

I was racking my brain trying to think of what to have the Mom's paint. After all, you cannot teach everything in one class and I didn't want anyone to be intimidated by the blank canvas. Thankfully, my own Mom thought of having everyone do a painting for their kids room.
Thanks, Mom!

I figured that since I'm only teaching for one morning meeting that I will give a run down on the paints then let them work on their paintings. I will create some simple line art of a boat, sports balls, mermaid, fairy, etc. for them to choose from. Then, they can transfer the image to the thick canvas with carbon paper and paint it.

Everyone will walk away with a sweet painting ready to hang in their kids room!

The class is in a couple of weeks so I'll let you know how it goes...Wish me luck! Kim :)

My Lost Painting :(

Here is an acrylic painting I made in 2006 of a hearts and swirls.
There is a tear in the upper right hand corner but it's not noticeable when matted and framed.

It was listed on my site for sale but it had to be removed because I seem to have misplaced it!
I've searched and searched...but no painting :(
I'm sure it will show up in my files months (or years) for now. I definitely need a filing system for my art!

Anyway, just wanted to share it with you. The original has lots of layers of paint...some thicker than others so some nice brushstrokes are seen.

Thanks for looking!

Ballerina Bear

Hi Everyone :)

Here is a sweet plump ballerina bear...isn't she a graceful dancer? I created her using acrylic paints on heavy artists paper.

I like how the tutu came out. A more subtle line was used to outline it giving it a wispy feel. I have a tendency to outline everything in black lines. Sometimes I will go over a perfectly good image with black lines and ruin it! This time, I held my "black-line-urge" back and am happy with the results :)

Check out my ETSY site (see links on the left) to view the 8 x 10 print available. In the near future, prints of my work will be available at www.artbykimy.com.

Thanks for looking!

New Neice!

This little illustration is for my baby neice. She is such a sweety and I cannot wait to hold her tomorrow! It truly is amazing how fast kids grow. One minute you are holding them in your arms and they are so light and sweet, floppy and delicate...And the next minute they are in pre-K running around with other kids.

It still amazes me sometimes that I am a Mommy to two little preschoolers! I still remember meeting a neighbor of mine (before I had kids) and thinking, "huh, she is my age and has a little 2 year old boy running around her house...she's a Mommy!" I witnessed her giving "time outs" and getting him dressed, making lunch and snacks, soothing a boo boo and thought how naturally doing "mommy" things came to her.

I always wanted to be a Mom and looked forward to having kids but wasn't sure how I would do stuffing diaper bags, mixing formula, soothing a crying baby, etc. I'm so disorganized! Anyway, it's impossible to know everything. I learned by doing...Some of it was natural...some of it wasn't. I spoke with other Moms and read articles to help us figure out how to ease colic, diaper rash, sleeping patterns, spitting up, etc. Soon, I was a natural at stuffing the diaper bag and prepping formula before heading out the door. I don't always get things right...but who does? The most important thing is make sure that through all the time outs, talking back and tantrums that they are loved with all your heart and more! (Plus, of course, clean, well-fed, challenged, read to, etc. , etc., etc.)

A loved kitty...

I recently finished a pet portrait of a beloved, sweet kitty who had sadly passed away. The woman who commissioned me wanted him sleeping peacefully on a cloud in heaven surrounded by goldfinches. I am thrilled that she loved the final piece!

End of Summer

What a beautiful day! The humidity is leaving and the air feels so clean and cool...so refreshing! I'm so happy fall is just around the corner.

These photos are of our backyard. Some of my family and friends think we live out in the middle of nowhere.
I guess from these photos it looks like that! We really have tons of shopping and good parks right around the corner.

Our yard backs up to a little corn and soy farm. Since I had never been around a farm on a regular basis before, I never realized how beautiful the scenery could be and how fast it changes. Between the fast-growing crops and the different color skies we get an ever-changing landscape of beautiful rich bands of color throughout the year.

Anyway, the colors today were so vibrant that I just had to take some pictures. These pictures don't do the true colors of the day justice but give you an idea :)