A Kreativ Blog Award!

Hurray! Smiles to go all around! I received my first blog award!

Laure Ferlita has graced me with the Kreative Blogger award.

I have had a wonderful time looking through Laure’s blog Painted Thoughts. She is also in the process of starting a Painted Thoughts Sales Blog which will eventually house her painted works for sale. Best of luck on your new blog venture Laure!



Here are my 7 things I love in no particular order.

Cool wind on a warm summer night

Wading in the creek

Smell of fresh air in the morning

Creativity! Is there anything better?

My family and friends and a jolly cat named Spatz.

I love listening to music with my brother Mark. It just sounds so much better when he is there.

My one pair of woolly socks to keep me warm.

-Kim Bennett

Wounded Blog in Need of Help.

I got myself a prescription and enrolled in the 4-week course Blog Triage course with Cynthia Morris and Alyson Stanfield.

The first part of the lesson is to describe the people I want to visit and read my blog. The second part is to describe what kind of change and growth I would like to experience through blogging.

My blog serves or is going to as an outlet to share things that I am unable to cover in class and connect with other artists. I also wish to share my own experiences and insights that I encounter while painting. And let’s have some fun too!

So artist, student, art appreciators, lovers, patrons, family, friend’s and anyone else that I have forgot to mention. Learn and share this journey with me!

-Kim Bennett

Relax and Enjoy the Process

Still Life With Melon, 6 x 12 inches (15.24 x 30.48 cm), Acrylic on MDF
2009 Kim Bennett

In February 2009, I was working on a painting that was to be entered in an exhibition. The challenge was, to select a painting from a list of master artist and do our own interpretation of it. I selected a still life from the impressionist painter Monet.

In doing so, several attempts were made on the same surface. When things were not going well, I sanded the work back to the essentials. But, each time they were nearing completion. Why did I do this? The painting was just not working for me. The decision of how to approach the painting kept changing. I now realize that if I treated each attempt separately, I would now have a progression of studies or even sketches to look back on and use as a learning tool.

As the deadline neared the painting had to be finished. It also occurred to me that I could have completed several paintings in the time it took me to produce the final piece. By treating each painting individually I would have had three or four pieces to select from, and not be forced to send in the only completed piece.

During this time, while looking through paintings by Monet, I noticed he often produced several versions of the same study. One example would be “The Façade of the Rouen Cathedral” (1892 – 1894). What he did was to take things beyond. He produced more than 30 works of this cathedral on canvas. Each was created independently and simultaneously. As the weather and the seasons started to change the paintings of the works created varied in the use of light, atmosphere, mood, etc. You will be able to find some examples of the painting here: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/monet/swf/

Yes, we learn from our mistakes. Sometimes we can get so caught up in producing the one painting it can become an unhealthy exercise. When we struggle in our search for perfection we can loose sight to what is important. Just relax and enjoy the process.

-Kim Bennett

Emphasise Everything and You Have Emphasise Nothing

I was thinking today of some words from a teacher that I had studied under at Marshall University. Sporny said, “If you emphasise everything you have emphasised nothing.” He was referring to an overworked canvas but is this not a lesson we can also bring into our lives?

I am still developing as an artist and often referred to as the “thirty something” range. Anyway, I enjoy the process and the challenges I face as a painter. It is what motivates me in the studio. I love learning and this is what gets me passionate about going in the studio.

Well, this morning I busy working at a project for a class. While doing so, I was thinking about the mountain of concepts or theory that there is to learn in landscape painting. I was feeling good! And then suddenly I stopped and found myself listening to an echo or a voice from inside my head telling me “If you emphasise everything you have emphasised nothing.”

As I was trying to rationalise this, I thought, okay, how much is there to learn about painting? The reality was more than I would have time for in this lifetime. So, for the first time in my life, I thought to myself that just maybe it would be great idea to have a focus and work on a series of paintings.

I suppose I could have just ignored the thought, but maybe I have spent long enough feeling my way around and trying out different things. Maybe it is the time for me to make that commitment to give my work a focus. Just maybe, it is time for me to grow with my art.

-Kim Bennett

Recollection of a Blueberry

Huckleberries at Dolly Sods, photographed by Gene Hyre

I had ran across this this photograph while looking for references for a landscape painting. I had been looking for it to show someone but it had been stashed away somewhere in my e-mails. This photo was taken by my Dad.

I used to go blueberry picking with my Grandfather on Bear Rock Preserve the top of Dolly Sods in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. That was many years ago and yes, you can say I found my thrill on blueberry hill. Although, some family insist that they are huckleberries.

It has been a long while since I have eaten a blueberry or even looked at a blueberry. This is because, I can't bring myself to pay for something in the shop that I used to pick for free. For me, it is a crime to see them in a package with a heavy price tag on them.

In all seriousness, I found it interesting that my recollection of a blueberry was different from actual observation of a blueberry.

My recollection of a blueberry :
My first thought is the colour blue and the powdery colour on the outside of the blueberry's smooth soft skin. When putting them to my lips, I would imagine the comparison to the softest skin. Would it be as soft as a baby's bottom or perhaps my grandmother would have soft skin like a blueberry.

I always found it fascinating that I could rub the blueberry and the powdery colour would remain.

Still on the colour As my eye travels around the blueberry I expect as I look into the crown and I would see the inside of the blueberry. For small blueberries, the colour deepens or the value becomes darker as I look down into the crown almost but not quiet a black hole. The crown looks perfect for a small pool of milk.

I loved that red violet colour that your fingers get stained with when you pick blueberries. Yum!

I ate all of them one at a time!

Well, that was the memories... I won't bore you with the details.

It was the best place to go for blue berries. What a view!

-Kim Bennett

Study - Landscape for Faux Marquetry Box

Study, 8 x 10 inches ( 20.32 x 25.4 cm ), Acrylic on Canvas Board
2009 Kim Bennett

I am in the process of doing a Faux marquetry box and wanted to place a landscape on the top of the lid. This is my first attempt in the process. I wanted to keep it simple, mysterious with a classical appearance.