Artist Bio
Kimberly remembers painting the sunset outside as a child with a set of watercolors, but mostly just feeling the sky and the ocean. As a child, she won first prize in a Save the Bay art contest where she created a collage of a girl fishing bottles from a boat, using scraps of painted paper, real sand, and a real doll bottle. Her mother kept this precious childhood art for her.
She studied psychology and civil engineering in college and took a few studio art electives from bay area artist Frank Lobdell. It was through his teaching style, in that painting class, that she realized the freedom of expression available through art and particularly through paint. With the simple words” keep painting” and with very little critique, Lobdell‘s influence has kept her painting for many years.
During the Covid restrictions, she began painting large colored canvases in her backyard. Because of where she painted, garden flowers and weeds always showed up. She began to photograph the flowers in her art and they often became the focal point. While photographing, her shadow also got in the way; but it seemed to belong.
Often wanting to walk into her paintings; she has found painting to be the easiest way to transport herself to where she wants to be.
The most recent art series she calls Dreams of a Girl. Standing in the garden could be the dream of any girl. She loves the way a shadow refrains from any specific context beyond a feeling.