Iris, original oil painting by Kim Smith

This original 6"x6" oil painting is painted on gesso panel and sold, unframed, for $100 here.

feeling peaceful

Feeling peaceful, if even just for a moment, is how I feel when I am painting. All time stops. All the noise of my thoughts slows down. It's magical and it's how I hope you feel when you look at my art :)

This original 6"x6" oil painting on ⅛" gesso panel and is available, unframed, for $100 in my Etsy shop here.

cattywampus

Cattywampus. A great word. One of those words that sound like what it means. What are those words called? Cattywampus means not lined up or arranged correctly. Just like anything truly beautiful in life. All of the good things in life are cattywampus...

This original 6"x6" oil painting on ⅛" gesso panel is sold, unframed, for $100 in my Etsy shop here.

Happy Friday!

I will be at Seasons Olive Oil & Vinegar Tap Room, in Lancaster, PA, tonight Friday, February 3, from 7-8. My artwork is beautifully hung and will make itself at home there for the next several months. How lucky am i?!? Stop in and say hi to me, enjoy my artwork, and sample some wonderful olive oils and vinegars if you are in the area. Hope to see you there!

hooray!

I am super excited to be chosen as one of The Judge's Picks on Daily Paintworks for my painting "chasing dreams." I'm over the moon, super excited to be chasing my dream!

hold your breath

I know, I know, it's supposed to be don't hold your breath, which is used to indicate that something is likely to take a long time. If anyone knows me, I'm not very good at waiting for anything that takes a long time. I think that's why doing small, daily paintings appeals so much to me. They are quick and don't require too much patience. Ideally, I would love to have the luxury of doing a small, daily painting each morning and then work on a larger painting. Some day. But until then I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and try to learn more patience along the way. This original 6"x6" oil painting is available, unframed, for $85 here.

I learn something new every single time I pick up a paint brush. There's so much to learn. About composition, color, edges, balance, but it's also a lot about trusting your intuition. That's probably the most important, and the most difficult thing to learn. To trust. This original oil painting is available, unframed, in my DailyPaintworks shop for $85 here: Click to Bid

I am playing around with grouping some images together for pinterest. It's fun to see them together, right? Tall and skinny images are supposed to work best for pinterest posts, so I'm giving it a go!

serendipity

luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for

We could all use a little bit of serendipity, or actually a lot :) Here's wishing you a week filled with wonderful moments!

This original 6"x6" oil painting is available, unframed, for $85. Click to Bid

chasing dreams

It's the possibility of realizing a dream that makes creating art, and living life, interesting.

Never lose sight of your dreams.

Original 10" x 10" oil painting on 1" think gesso panel. This is suitable for framing, or hanging as is, unframed. You can see purchase information here.

gratitude

As busy as life gets, every day I take the time to think about all of the things I am grateful for. Painting is always one of the things on my list. This original 8"x8" oil painting is available, unframed, for $140. Click to Bid

calm

I had a weekend with no time for painting. Every time I take a few days off I fear that I will forget everything I ever learned! We were at a swim meet at Penn State. It was fun and the weather was amazing for the middle of February. I did have a little bit of time this morning before work so I fit this little gem in to get myself back into the flow. At least while I was at the swim meet I had some time to read. A decadent treat! This 6"x6" original oil painting is available, unframed, for $85. Click to Bid

Here's my reading material from this weekend, if you don't have time to paint, at least there's time for some good reading! I adore flow magazine and just started the book Thrive and am enjoying it very much.

live colorfully

Be brave. Trust. Live colorfully. That's all.

This original 8"x 8" oil painting is available, unframed, for $140. You can purchase it, or see my other available pieces at my Etsy store here.

Cheers to a colorful week ahead!

iris work-in-progress

This is so much fun. I have to keep bringing my focus back to the thought of color, which is what I want for this piece. Lots of color. This is my progress and a close-up shot…

bird by bird

Awake at night, again, I am reading bird by bird by Anne Lamott. I absolutely love this paragraph, which puts things into perspective for me.

E. L. Doctorow once said that “writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, (or art!) I have ever heard.

I often, and especially in the middle of the night, get lost in thinking that I’m not getting where I want to go (or even have any idea where that is). But thinking about it this way, just taking baby steps each day, makes it all so much less daunting. Now I just need to constantly remind myself of this! This 6"x6" original oil painting is available, unframed, for $85. Click to Bid

warm light

Sometimes the challenge of having something to say is just beyond me. I am reading a great book called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life when I am awake at night and can't sleep. Maybe I will sleep better if I have some instructions on Writing and Life. Maybe it will get rid of this writers block, or life block, that I seem to have more often than I'd like. Hope so. This original 6"x6" oil painting is available, unframed, for $85. Thanks for reading :) Click to Bid

wild abandon

I finished up a commissioned painting this morning with a little bit of time left over. So I painted a still life that I had set up in my studio. And I painted with wild abandon. It's a little along the vein of Lisa Daria and Angela Moulton. I really admire their work. I'm sure they don't really paint with wild abandon. They just make it look that way, and they make it look so easy. It's definitely not. Fun? Absolutely! This 6"x6" unframed painting is available for $75. Have a great day!

harmony

On this bitter cold morning I did something new. Instead of listening to the news, I listened to the Artists Helping Artists blogtalk radio show. It was about "Finances…the most dreaded topic for every artist." Even after having a business for the past 25 years, I still learned things from listening to this. Such as how to organize the records of artwork that has sold. So if you have never listened to her show, it's definitely worth checking out. Wishing you a weekend filled with harmony. This 6"x6" painting is available, unframed, for $75.

warm heart

Hope this painting warms your heart on this chilly Monday morning! Get all tangled up in a beautiful week...this painting is Sold!

iris trio

This little 5"x5" painting is from a photo taken at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa. I plan to do a larger painting but wanted to try a tiny one first. Hope you enjoy it! Happy Friday! Available for purchase $80 unframed.