THANK YOU.

Thanks to everyone who reached out after my last newsletter. You have no idea how much we appreciate your love and support. We’re still in limbo (more tests are scheduled later next month.)

Waiting is difficult.

Working to keep busy. I have several new offerings to share:

Coming this Saturday on my blog (please refresh the page at NOON PDT)

New Journals Available Saturday

New Journals: Catch them While You Can!

Come create with me!

Juicy Living: a NEW Art Journaling PWYCW* Workshop Series

(*pay what you can)

SOMETHING NEW IN PAINT, PAPER, PEN: EVERY 2ND SATURDAY

This month we are exploring the IDEA of summer through COLOR AND MARK MAKING

Saturday 11 July 2026

11 am PDT

(LIVE on the 11th, LATER available as a video recording)

If there’s enough interest, I’ll keep this going. I like to keep my work and my workshops accessible and affordable to all.

Juicy Living PWYCW July 2026

COME PAINT WITH ME.

YES, YOU.

The Art Life: The Feminine in Color

a monthly journey of studying

all things feminine via art

(live painting sessions, salon, and much, much more)

Dip in and out, we are here for you

Learn more here

“I go through life looking with my eyes wide open, and everything I see becomes a part of me.” -Egon Schiele

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, create something, stay connected, and most of all, stay human.

Much love,

Kelly

🎨

Waving hi from Los Angeles,

I hope that you are finding ways and bits of time to feed your creativity amidst everything around us.

You may want to pour yourself a cup of tea or something stronger as you read this (if you do read it, thank you.)

It’s been a roller coaster of a year. Before I get into that, a word from my sponsor (ME!)

June 2026 workshops:

Juicy Living: a NEW Art Journaling

PWYCW (pay what you can) Workshop Series

(EVERY 2ND SATURDAY)

Saturday 13 June 2026 11 am PDT

Register here

The Art Life:

The Feminine in Color

a monthly journey of studying

all things feminine via art

(live painting sessions, salon, and much, much more)

Dip in and out, we are here for you

Learn More Here

I have to make space, etc… so I am slowly starting to downsize some things.

I have some journals I’ll be posting shortly. If you’d like a surprise in the mail, you can order them this way now at a discounted price.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be removing this page and posting journals (at a higher price) where you can select the ones you’d like. As always, thank you for your interest and support of my work.

Order a surprise sale journal here

I’ll also be downsizing some books soon… You can follow my Books In Search of a Good Home page on Instagram if you’d like. I’m going to slowly start to add things there.

Books in Search of a Good Home

Where to begin? First off, apologies for being so vague with my “waiting” posts. I’m tired of just writing that and thought it was time to share what’s been going on.

If you’re reading this and you’re family, I am very sorry, we haven’t posted because David did not (and does not) want his dad to know. His father has enough going on as it is and we don’t want to add to that.

2016: my husband, David ended up in the ER. Long story short, cancer. Thankfully, it was taken care of and removed (along with his kidney.)

2025: August. David ends up back in ER (kidney stones, which you don’t mess around with if you’ve only got one kidney.) Some things come up on the tests while he’s in the hospital for a few days.

August-December: Doctors. Lots of waiting and doctors (some competent, some not. I have stories but will save them for bonus content facebook rants.) Added Bonus: roller coaster ride with insurance (Two big thumbs down. Do not recommend. 0 stars.)

January 2026: Finally, a colonoscopy. Doctor informs a very drugged up David that “something” was found and orders more tests. A week later, cecal cancer. More #$% waiting.

February 2026: Late in the month, part of David’s colon along with the cancer is removed. We were told doctor thinks he removed all of it but tests have to be done to make sure. (This doctor has been, thankfully, excellent. Two big thumbs up. Five stars. The best doctor David has seen in round 2 of this shit.) More waiting (and healing.)

What month is it now? June. (How?)

Let me back up.

May 2026: David has a follow-up with his soon to be former oncologist. Everything so far, points to a good recovery. We’re sitting in the office, doctor walks in and starts reading robotic like from the report. He point blank tells David, without any emotion, “the cancer may have metastasized to his spine and that David needs to see a neurosurgeon. See me in a month.” Needless to say, we freaked the fuck out. I went home and started making phone calls. An appointment with a neurosurgeon (as the oncologist recommended) was set up for a few days later.

What we don’t know at the time and that David discovered by looking at his files is that this “new thing” has been in him since at least 2022 and no one told us. David had his scans for 2026 done in a new location and they took note of what was found, thinking it was connected to the new cancer. The radiologist didn’t know, didn’t look or whatever (or have access to) the previous scans done elsewhere. The oncologist didn’t bother to look at the previous scans nor did he EVER mention this tumor (?) near his spine FOR FOUR YEARS. The oncologist just reads from the current report so he made it sound as if it were new and that the cancer had spread.

Turns out the neurosurgeon was the wrong doctor. However, he helped us find an orthopedic oncologist. This new doctor has set up several tests (biopsies, bloodwork, scans and the like) and the next couple of months will be keeping us busy.

Why am I sharing this? Like I said, I’m tired of just writing, “Waiting.” Maybe, some days, I'm just tired. Maybe I want others to feel they're not alone in this mess.

As artists, art reflects our life and the world around us.

I’ve been painting and throwing myself into my teaching. (My teaching, my students, my work…it all means a lot to me.)

I draw, write, and read daily.

I try to stay informed of what’s going on in the world around us because, yeah, I do care. Deeply. I do what I can, when I can, as much as I can.

I’m also just holding on and holding on tight to someone I love very much.

If you've read this, thank you. Thank you for being a part of this roller coaster called life. I hope that some of this encourages you that even in difficult times to embrace being human.

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, create something, stay connected, and most of all, stay human.

Much love,

Kelly

🎨

Checking in.

We are still waiting here (hopefully within the next two weeks, we'll have answers to a very long and stressful 10 month long journey)

We have a lot going on at home this week which has prevented me from getting to my easel until this weekend's workshops:

SATURDAY, 9 May 2026:

Pay What You Can Juicy Journaling with a focus on exploring COLOR and MARK MAKING in this month's session

SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2026:

In this week's session of The Art Life: The Feminine in Color, we will be painting and thinking about brush strokes and Berthe Morisot (this work as well as the painting at the top are both WIP. We'll be talking about BRUSHWORK in The Art Life on the 17th.)

When I can't get to my easel, for whatever reason, I still have things that keep me paying attention, curious, seeking, thinking, and working.

I've stashed sketchbooks in every room of my apartment. I have two in my purse and one in the car. I have my written, catch-all studio journal by my bed.

I'm surrounded by books that feed me. I am reading and listening, staying informed and inspired by following artists, activists and news organizations I trust.

Currently, I'm reading and loving Molly Crabapple's book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund:

as well as

Berthe Morisot by Jean-Dominique Rey

All of this to say, I know that the world around us isn't always what we want and need it to be. As artists, we have the ability to inspire others to not only see what's in front of them, but also to dream bigger and work towards something different, something better. We encourage possibility. We give hope. We inspire action.

"Radicals often suspect beauty of corruption. Uptight fuckers though they sometimes are, they're right in one thing: art alone cannot change the world. Pens can't take on swords, let alone Predator drones. But as disappointment and violence spread, the antidote is a generosity that the best art can still inspire."
Molly Crabapple, Drawing Blood

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, create something, stay connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨

I'd like to preface this by stating that I am ALWAYS a firm believer in using what you have to create. I hope that this post helps share some ideas you may not have thought of.

Over the years, I've painted with many different kinds of acrylic: fluid, heavy body, craft paints, etc… I know that, for what I do, I prefer a heavy body professional grade paint and that limiting my palette is what works best for me..Now on to the reason I'm sharing this.

Last week I experienced major sticker shock while checking online prices of two of my go to paint brands, Holbein and Utrecht via Blick’s website.

I hadn’t purchased Holbein since December (my local shop doesn’t stock it, and I have to trek about 30 minutes each way to buy it. I time my trips to coincide with appointments in that area.) A SEVEN dollar price increase for one 2 oz tube of paint is extremely jarring for a working artist. However, it's not just Holbein but also Utrecht.

Over the course of the next couple of days, I visited two Blick shops (I am aware that I am extremely grateful, privileged, and lucky to live in an area where I have access to in store art shopping.) My plan was to see what I could substitute for my favorite go to colors and to check prices.

I was shocked to find in person prices wildly different than online (I am thinking that they will probably match up very soon. I’m also thinking I should keep my big mouth shut.) One manager was flabbergasted after I shared the increase in online prices with them. They also admitted that (like MANY online shops) Blick’s online prices FACTOR IN shipping (yes, there really is no such thing as free shipping. We pay for everything in some way or another.)

We also agreed that no matter what happens, we will still continue to create even if that includes drawing in the dirt with sticks.

I also checked online prices at Jerry’s Artamama for Holbein heavy body acrylic and found that they match Blick’s online prices.

I checked Art Supply Warehouse in Huntington Beach and found that their online prices are still the older ones ($16 instead of $23.) That will also probably change soon. (They are a trek for me so I haven’t checked their in store prices.)

I have since checked prices for Holbein in the UK and Australia. At the moment, Japan has its old school prices for Holbein, so if you're lucky and planning a trip…

So, what’s an artist to do?

Do we stock up? No. At least, I’m not. (I can’t afford it nor can most artists I know. Not to mention that acrylics have a shelf life. If stored in cool, dry conditions, acrylics can last about twelve years. (I’ve found that to vary depending upon altitude, temperature (humidity and extreme temperature changes don’t play well with art supplies), quality/manufacturer, the quality of the tube/jar and cap, etc...)

I don’t recommend stocking up.

What does an artist do? We pivot.

• LIMIT YOUR SUPPLIES Fewer choices means really getting to know what you have and how to use them. It can actually feel as if you have more, not less. Not to mention that knowing how your paints and tools work can build confidence.

• LEARN THE PIGMENT NAMES INSTEAD OF COLORS. Painters pay attention to the colors we reach for. If using professional artist quality paints (Holbein, Utrecht, Golden, Nova, etc...) learn the pigment names instead of color names. (You’ll see things like PB16 (pigment blue, 16 is the kind of pigment: Phthalo Turquoise) either on the back or front of the label. You don’t have to memorize them. Learn how to read your paint labels and shift how you think: pigment vs color name.

  (Note: craft paints don’t have pigment numbers. Also take note that craft paints contain very little pigment and use mostly binders and fillers I am not knocking craft paints, I believe in using what you have access to.)

• Learn to mix your own colors. Two yellows, two reds, two blues, and a white. With those colors, one can mix every color of the rainbow. (You can also limit even more and use one of each and mix.)

• Compare brands AND Sizes. Is the quality/consistency the same but you can buy a larger size for less money? I’ll be using Utrecht Artists’ Acrylic as much as possible, buying larger sizes (5 oz.) I'll still use Holbein but I am not spending $25 on a 2 oz tube of paint.

• Extend your paint. I did this in my workshops for YEARS. I’d buy my paints from Nova Paint in Los Angeles (they’re a fantastic mom and pop shop. They sell through their site, though Blick is also carrying some of their products now.) I’d buy a specific set of colors (Quinacridone Magenta, Hansa Yellow, Phthalo Blue, Titanium White, etc...) along with Gloss Medium (fluid) which I’d put in squeeze bottles. I’d show my students to how to mix in medium when squeezing out their colors. I eventually stopped doing this because it would take hours to fill multiple bottles and it began to really hurt my hands having to constantly open and close wide mouth jars.

  Nowadays, I’m teaching online and not traveling to teach (yes, my in person workshops are still paused. Please catch me online!) I’ve been thinking of adding a gel medium to my heavy body acrylics to extend my paint. That said, if you saw you easel set up I use while teaching online, you’d know why I’ve delayed doing this. Gravity, anyone? (see the photos below)

• MIX IN MEDIUMS I’d encourage you to experiment with either a gloss or matte medium (fluid or gel.) Think about the kind of surface you prefer (gloss or matte.) What consistency of acrylic do you like to paint with heavy body, soft body, or fluid? If you like heavy or soft, think about using a gel medium, use a fluid medium to extend fluid acrylics (of course you cab use either.) Note that water will break down the binder and dilute the pigment quality.

• TAKE INVENTORY of the paints you prefer. Note the pigments, brands and consistency you use, how often you use them, and what you can substitute.

• SHOP LOCALLY Yes, paint prices, just like so much of everything we use in our world, comes from all across the globe (pigments, plastics, etc...) Price compare brands made locally to you (for example, see if there are any local to you paint companies. Comparison shop their prices vs others. Try their products out and see if they suit your needs.)

• WHAT ARE YOUR ALTERNATIVES? Does this work need to be an acrylic painting? Can you change media for certain works? Could you use house paint or model paints? Is it for practice, personal use, or are you going to sell it (does it need to last or can you let the conservators figure it out after you're in The Louvre?)

• WHAT ARE YOUR SUBSTRATES? Artists in difficult times paint on cardboard, book covers, repurposed wood panels, etc… It wasn’t always canvas or paper. They used what they had access to.

• BE FRUGAL: Trade/swap with friends. Try local art re-use stores. Check local thrift stores. Check buy nothing groups and don’t be afraid to ASK for supplies.

• GROUP BUY in larger quantities and extra containers. Share the work with your artist friends.

  

Additional tips and resources FOR PAINT AND MEDIUMS HERE and here

My go to palette here

My easel set up (with palette and drawing board) here

What am I missing?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about how you find art supplies and creating in difficult times.

“I want painting to be difficult to do. The more obstacles, obstructions, problems… the better.” –Richard Diebenkorn

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨

It's not too late to join me in the creative sandbox. THIS Saturday’s Juicy Art Journaling PWYC (pay what you can) workshop) has a heavy emphasis on PLAY.

Gather a small handful of your acrylics, collage papers, and mark making tools (markers, pencils, crayons, etc…) You don’t need much!

We won’t be thinking about finished work.

Our focus will be on playful experimenting with a wide variety of tools. Dig deep into your toolbox, bring what you have, and be open to new possibilities.

This is my ONLY workshop outside of The Art Life: The Feminine in Color this month! (We are painting THIS on Sunday, April 12th (will be available later in our extensive library as a video recording.) Catch me while you can.

I hope to see you soon (if you miss the live, they are ALWAYS available as a video recording.)

Register Here

STAY TUNED:

I'm working on a post about rising acrylic paint prices and ideas on how to stretch your supplies. I hope to send this out next week. (It does NOT involve stocking up!)

"The world is violent and mercurial--it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love--love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love."
-Tennessee Williams

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨

Reliance, Acrylic on paper, 2026

All we have is each other.

The sooner we start acting that way, the better the world will be.

I was supposed to send out a different newsletter, one advertising workshops this weekend and talking about paint prices.

Instead, I am sending you an image, my work, something that I hope helps to get my point across.

We have to do better, be better, help each other, fight for each other…all of us, no matter where we are. And we have to do it every day, even when it's hard.

"It is a huge danger to pretend that awful things do not happen. But you need enough hope to keep going. I am trying to make hope. Flowers grow out of darkness."
-Corita Kent

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

Taught a much needed Paint and PLAY (as part of The Art Life: The Feminine in Color session on Saturday.)

Art opens us up to new ideas and new possibilities.

First two images are Tempera sticks, Caran d’ache NeoColor I crayons, pencils, and markers on paper

Art encourages us to share, reach out, and create community.

Images 3 and 4: Before and after a break, all acrylic on paper and a large paintbrush, then switching to a smaller brush for the details

Art encourages perseverance. We fail. We learn. We make more art.

Images 5 and 6: Before and after a break, all acrylic on paper with a painting knife and Catalyst tool

Art reminds us of our humanity.

I've seen many posts from folks who are admitting that they don't have the mental space to create right now.

May I encourage you to think about the art that you love (books, paintings, film, music, etc….) What was happening in the world at that time?

Think of how much richer your life is having had that art in it.

Think of the artist and how they still kept creating.

The world needs your creativity.

YOU need your creativity.

YOU need to create the world you want.

"To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes."
-Akira Kurosawa

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

“There needs to be a revolution every single day.” -Rosy Keyser

All these pieces that I share come from the heart. Some are painted, others are sketched, while some are written. Yet every single one, be they good or bad (whatever that may mean) comes into the world because it needs to be made. I create to discover and to learn something new, to say something I can’t put into words, and to encourage others to pick up their own creative tools.

Perhaps you’re scrolling as you come across this.

Can I make a fierce suggestion?

Put down your phone. Pick up a brush… or pencil, spoon, shovel, or whatever your creative tool of choice may be. Make something for someone. Spend fifteen minutes doing whatever your something may be. Then, give it away. Do this on a regular basis. Encourage others to do this. Reach out to neighbors, friends, and family and see if they’re interested in doing the same things. If they’re not, see where you can cross paths and learn something new together.

We can try our damndest to create the world that we want and we have to start locally.

All I know is that I’m tired of waiting for someone else, for something else, for change to happen.... (Right now I’m tired of waiting for a lot of things but I’m still not ready to talk about that just yet.) So, here I am trying to do what I can as someone who creates and teaches to encourage you to plant seeds and be what you want to see in the world.

Workshops this Weekend

I have an all new session planned for this Saturday with some serious plans for layering color and making marks in different ways… if you haven’t joined us in some time, think about setting as an hour or so, gathering your favorite tools, and taking time to work in your art journal. It’s good for you…

Juicy Living: a NEW Art Journaling PWYCW Workshop Series (pay what you can)

EVERY 2ND SATURDAY

Saturday 14 March 2026

11 am PST (available later as a recording if you can’t make the live!)

Juicy Living

Some of the work from The Art Life: The Feminine in Color

This Sunday, in TAL: The Feminine in Color, we’re focusing on SHAPES, brushstrokes, and expressive color as well as looking at the work of Doctor Samella Lewis. Every month it’s something new and I’m pouring my heart into it.

For those of you looking for something more, part art community, part mentorship, part art workshops, I’m pouring everything I have into The Art Life: The Feminine in Color. It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t, you can. Come nurture, nourish, and encourage your creativity.

The Art Life: The Feminine in Color

Some Things of Note

What I’m Reading

Comrades in Art Artists Against Fascism 1933-1943 by Andy Friend, Frances Spalding

Always looking to art and artists for guidance, I picked this one up recently. Have you read it?

It’s Oscar weekend and I thought I’d share one of my favorite films from 2025, Little Amelie or the Character of Rain. Have you seen it? Did you have a favorite film from last year (I also loved Hamnet and Frankenstein.)

“What is the meaning of life?

That was all- a simple question; one that

tended to close in on one with years,

the great revelation had never come. The great

revelation perhaps never did come.

Instead, there were little daily miracles,

illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly

in the dark; here was one.”

– Virginia Woolf

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

“...Art can prepare people for change, it can be educational and persuasive in people's thinking." -Elizabeth Catlett

Greetings from Los Angeles,

I was at my easel for the first time in weeks yesterday. It was a very good spot to be.

Due to life doing its thing, I haven’t been able to be at my easel in the last few weeks (which is extremely frustrating for someone who paints!) I’m grateful for my sketchbooks, pencils, and crayons (I’ve fallen in love with Neocolor I pastels, yes, the ones I dissed for so many years. Well, on their own, they’re amazing. If anyone has any Neocolor I pastels or professional quality pencils they want to trade for art supplies, classes, etc…, please drop me an email.)

Yes, I said sketchbooks. I’ve gone from being a single journal person to a multiple journal being. Funny how things change. I have my every day journal for writing (and small sketches.) I have sketchbooks all over the apartment (next to the bed, the easel, in my purse, in my pocket, etc…) Right now, they’re helping me to process world events as well as what’s going on in my own little bubble at the moment.

I hope to share what’s going on soon. I’d just feel better having more information before I do so. Hold each other close and try to put forth love and justice more so than anything else.

Juicy Living: a NEW Art Journaling PWYCW Workshop Series (pay what you can)

EVERY 2ND SATURDAY

Saturday 14 March 2026

11 am PST (available later as a recording if you can’t make the live!)

Juicy Living

For those of you looking for something more, part art community, part mentorship, part art workshops, I’m pouring everything I have into The Art Life: The Feminine in Color. It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t, you can. Come nurture, nourish, and encourage your creativity.

The Art Life: The Feminine in Color

I have a tentative TBA workshop save the date planned for the 28th. It all depends on how things go over the next week. Sorry to be so vague.

I may be posting some journals and other work soon.

“I was an artist out of necessity, because of experiences, and you might say a certain amount of pain. Because I needed a voice to respond to situations… so I found from an early stage the idea of symbolic visual expression.” -Doctor Samella Lewis

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

"Hope is not a form of guarantee; it's a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark." -John Berger

Greetings from a very warm Los Angeles.

It’s challenging to write a newsletter when you can’t share everything that you want, or need, to share at the moment.

I’ll repeat what I mentioned last month, if you’re interested in taking a workshop with me, catch me while you can. I’ve paused my end of month workshop for two reasons (one of which I can’t share at the moment) and to focus on teaching two workshops this month:

Juicy Living: a NEW Art Journaling PWYC (pay what you can) Workshop Series

art journaling, collage, painting, journaling, and more

EVERY 2ND SATURDAY

Saturday 14 February 2026

11 am PST

Juicy Living PWYCW February 14, 2026

The Art Life: The Feminine in Color

a monthly journey of studying all things feminine via art

painting, collage, drawing, brainstorming, mentoring and much, much more.

(yes, FOUR live workshops monthly in The Art Life)

INSIDE THE ART LIFE:

Saturday 7th 11 AM PST -2 hour art journaling/brainstorming session

Sunday 8th 11 AM PST-2 hour painting session (building upon our art journaling and bonus session)

Sunday 15th 11 AM PST- BONUS 2 hour PAINTING AND PLAY SESSION (building upon the previous sessions)

Monday 16th 11 AM PST Salon/group mentoring 2 hours where we meet to discuss and share what’s working, what we’re struggling with, and glean ideas for our own individual art practice

The Art Life: The Feminine in Color

"Art is the provocation for talking about enigma and the search for sense in human life. One can do that by telling a story or writing about a fresco by Giotto or studying how a snail climbs up a wall." -John Berger

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole reading by John Berger that I can get my hands on. I just finished reading Permanent Red. There are chapters I need to go back and re-read. I’d recommend reading the book in bits and pieces, allowing time to research the artists and their work that he mentions. I prefer to let his words simmer and stew and roll around in my brain a bit.

Besides Ways of Seeing, do you have a Berger book to recommend?

“After we have responded to a work of art, we leave it, carrying away in our our consciousness something which we didn’t have before. This something amounts to more than our memory of the incident represented, and also more than our memory of the shapes and colours and spaces which the artist has used and arranged. What we take away with us - on the most profound level - is the memory of the artist’s way of looking at the world. The representation of a recognizable incident (an incident here can simply mean a tree or a head) offers us the chance of relating the artist’s way of looking to our own. The forms he uses are the means by which he expresses his way of looking. The truth of this is confirmed by the fact that we can often recall the experience of a work, having forgotten both its precise subject and its precise formal arrangement.” -Permanent Red, John Berger

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

"It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism." 

-Angela Davis, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement 

The Role of the Artist

Artists have had important roles all throughout history.

Our job isn't to make pretty pictures.

Our job is to educate, inspire, and transform. Our job is to share what it means to dream and dream big. Our job is to show what's possible when we work together. 

As artists, we can use the tools and skills that we have to create work that goes out into the world. We can use our work to share our ideas and knowledge. 

How have we come together throughout history for the greater good?

How do we create community and make people feel connected?

How do we encourage people to keep their light, their joy, their humor, their humanity?

You can make work and share it on your social media platforms.

You can make work and leave it in public. It could be easily reproduced (look to see if your local library has free copy machine access, etc…)

Maybe you have excess paint at the end of a painting session. You could make banners to hang in your neighborhood. 

Maybe you love art journaling. Make some pages that speak out, supporting, educate, and encourage. Share the work across social media.

What about making stickers, or stencils and things that can be sprinkled throughout your neighborhood? Do you want to make and sell work that can be reproduced with some (or all) proceeds going to mutual aid?

Perhaps you're a quilter with excess fabric and time. You could make blankets to share with your neighbors in need.

Maybe you knit or crochet and can make gloves, scarves, and hats for those in need?

Do you have excess supplies you're not using that you can donate to a local community center, senior center, mutual aid organization, etc…?

What if you're a cartoonist who likes making mini zines with politics and humor?

Maybe you're a writer who loves history. You could share stories of people who've come together throughout history to work together to create something that transformed humanity. 

You could be someone who loves baking. Maybe you decide to bake some extra bread or cookies or yummy treats to share with elders in your community. 

What if you leave sidewalk chalk out next to a handwritten message of your own?

Are you someone who excels at bringing people together? Hold an old fashioned quilting bee but for any kind of art making. It could be to create banners, brainstorm ideas of what your community needs while creating together. 

Are you someone with excess time? Can you volunteer to bake or cook for your neighbors?

Can you volunteer with a local ICE watch group? Can you help deliver groceries, shuttle children, etc… to families who are sheltering in place?

And so on.

Think about the things that you excel at. What lights you up? How can you share these gifts within your community?

We all have a role. We all have a part.

This is the time that artists go to work.

What's your role?

I'd love for you to leave any additional ideas in the comments.

"Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."

-Howard Zinn, The Optimism of Uncertainty 

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

A reminder, I am teaching a live painted backgrounds workshop this Saturday, Color Notes It will later be available as a recording.

If you like my backgrounds for journal pages, paintings and more, this is the workshop for you.

This is probably the only painted background workshop I am teaching any time soon.

Color Notes: Luscious Painterly Layers

There is a high likelihood that I am going to have to cut back on some of my online teaching for the foreseeable future (and for reasons I cannot share at the moment, but will when I have more information.)

If you've been waiting, please don't wait much longer.

“When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible.” -Robert Henri

As a working artist...Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Look out for each other, stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

Kelly

🎨❤️

Warm greetings from a very warm Los Angeles,

Please permit me to share this first as I am a working artist. January (and June) are the most difficult months for any artist acknowledging that things are especially tough for so many right now.

Color Notes: Luscious Painterly Layers

In my home, we are still in the waiting process we’ve been in since early August 2025. I hope by next week we have some answers.

In the meantime, we can all see what’s happening in the world around us. Instead of focusing on the sinking feeling of despair, look to the collective good.

• What forms of resistance are you seeing (and taking part in?)

• How do you see people standing up and taking care of one another?

• How are you participating in your own community?

• How can you channel your rage and fear into something useful?

There are things that all of us can do if we start small and focus on what’s around us. Meeting new people, sharing ideas, and creating community are some of the most important and relatively easiest things any of us can do.

Get to know your neighbors. Everyone has a skill, something that they’re good at. Think collectively, not individually.

“Read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read...” -Werner Herzog

Read. See what artists throughout history have done not just to survive but to resist and to live. Learn from them.

Create. Not just for yourself. How can you share your art to inspire ideas, hope, new ways of thinking, to educate, to inform, to dream, to create something better?

Speaking of reading and learning about artists from history, do you know that the powers that be in Washington, DC are trying to erase our collective history?

Philip Guston, Reconstruction and Well-Being of the Family, 1942, oil on canvas adhered to wood

In DC, there’s a building called the Wilbur J Cohen Building. It’s also known as the “American Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art.” The building contains murals and frescoes by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston and many other artists.

“The expansive west wall represents the accomplishments of Social Security. Shahn created scenes of daily life and the benefits reaped from social security. On the far left, young men play handball. Just to the right, men use powerful tools to erect infrastructure and architecture that benefit society. Next, men build new homes, and finally, on the far right, individuals harvest the land and gather fruit. Though the Social Security Act did not cover farmers, Shahn expanded his vision to include them.” via GSA (Click through and read the text for each work which speaks about the aims and visions of social security)

(Note the process to do this was started under Biden and ramped up by Trump.)

There is a petition you can sign (do not give change.org petitions any money. Signing and sharing is what folks need.)

Americans need these artworks and buildings that house them as reminders of our collective history.

Seymour Fogel, Security of the People, 1942, buon fresco with secco additions

What can you do?

Share the petition (again, do not give change.org any money. Sign and share, please.)

Learn and read about how artists worked, survived, and lived under the new deal.

Share the information that you learn with others. Most Americans do not know about the programs under Roosevelt’s Federal Art Project, WPA, PWAP, and programs that were available to artists in the 30s and 40’s as part of a collective social safety net. These programs not only recognized that the arts were important and necessary for a healthy society, but also kept artists fed.

Some Additional Links of Interest:

Living New Deal

Library of Congress lists of work available at the Wilbur J Cohen Building

List of New Deal Murals

The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture

Podcast: The New Deal Treasures Slated for Demolition The pending sale of a historic federal building by Trump could mean the wrecking ball for the “Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art.”

GSA Fine Arts Collection

Extensive piece by Timothy Noah on the Wilbur J Cohen Building Part 1 and 2

Read Ben Shahn’s The Shape of Content

"It is the mission of art to remind man from time to time that he is human, and the time is ripe, just now, today, for such a reminder." -Ben Shahn

As a working artist…Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Stay safe, connected, and most of all, stay human.

❤️🎨

Kelly

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

Warm greetings as we enter the new year together.

Please pull up a chair, make yourself at home. I have much to share.

As 2025, started to end, I asked myself, what did I want to teach?

Why is that an important question for me? Well, because in order for me to be a good teacher, I have to be interested and passionate in what I’m teaching. I try to approach everything that I do with the mentality that I’m also a beginner. (“Wait. What? You’ve been creating and teaching for almost 30 years now.” I hear you saying that. Stay with me.)

When I enter the studio (aka my corner of my living room in my tiny apartment), I enter with questions and openness. Yes, sometimes I have ideas of how to start or where I want to go (and when I don’t, I putter, clean, and work until the ideas start to percolate.) I never know completely what it is I want to do (because, to me, that would be boring. If I knew the work from start to finish, why make it?) Instead, I come open to idea generating, lots of questions, and a plethora of mistakes to learn from.

This is how I create.

When you go to create, what do you want from the process?

What do you want to learn from the experience?

Why do you want to make that art, in that medium, at this time?

I ask these same questions with every workshop, as well, why should someone want to learn from me?

I like to generate ideas.

I thrive on finding new ways to approach old mediums.

I love learning about other artists, how they approach and view the work (and the world around them.)

As 2026 started to appear on the horizon, I thought about my online art community, The Art Life. I’ve been pouring everything I have into this group that’s part community, part salon, part workshop, part everything that holds my heart.

What did I want to do that was different this year?

How could I approach seeing the work in new ways? How could I share with others that thought process?

Paint.

Collage.

Drawing.

Writing.

Art history.

What do I need to teach?

I’m a night owl. Well, at 7:30 a.m., my eyes popped open and all I wanted to do was go to my easel and paint.

The spark has been lit.

The work that you see above (which I’ll be demonstrating and talking about my ideas in this Saturday’s The Art Life: The Feminine in Color) is what is filling my head at the moment.

We all have symbols, motifs, these things that speak and sing and call to us over and over and over again. How can we look at our symbols with fresh eyes? How can we make new work from old ideas? How can we generate new ideas from old work?

New work.

New ideas.

New ways of thinking.

That’s what we could use right now.

THE ART LIFE JANUARY 2026:

(yes, FOUR live workshops monthly in The Art Life)

• Saturday 3rd 11 AM PST -2 hour art journaling/painting brainstorming session

• Sunday 11th 11 AM PST-2 hour painting session (building upon last week’s painted art journaling session)

• Monday 19th NOON PST-BONUS 2 hour PAINTING AND PLAY SESSION

• Sunday 25th 11 AM PST- Salon/group mentoring 2 hours where we meet to discuss and share what’s working, what we’re struggling with, and glean ideas for our own individual art practice

As always, the fee is kept low so folks can dip in and out, taking what they need.

Learn more about The Art Life here

Special sale price of $35/month available through this weekend only.

January 2026 Workshops Outside of TAL:

JUICY JOURNALING SAT 10TH art journaling, collage, paint, and more!

Color Notes: Luscious Layers 2026 PAINTING WORKSHOP SAT 24TH paint, paint, and more paint!

My Ko-Fi shop has been updated. 2025 is all up. I’ll be getting this final batch out in the mail this weekend. I have something new coming in 2026. What I have in the shop now is limited.

“I can’t be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter. So, I am forced to be an optimist. I am forced to believe that we can survive, whatever we must survive.” -James Baldwin

As a working artist…Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

Wishing you, and all of us, a better, brighter new year.

❤️🎨

Kelly

I’ll have one more newsletter before the end of 2025.

In the meantime, I have some things I’m very excited to share:

What does it mean to go deeper into your work?

To investigate what it means to be human.

To pay attention.

The Art Life:

The Feminine in Color

begins 1st of January 2026 in an all new way (if you think you know what’s in the art life, well…)

Learn more here

This Saturday:

Rituals & Traditions:

a Workshop to End the Year

Saturday 27 December 2025

Noon - 2 pm PST

I hope that you will join me.

Register here

If you ordered a journal from me, thank you. They are all in the mail. I still have some available, which I can ship this Friday (12/26/2025). They make great gifts (as do workshops!)

New Work available in a new way

"Painting is an attempt to come to terms with life.  There are as many solutions as there are human beings."  -George Tooker

As a working artist…Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

❤️🎨

Kelly

As a working artist, please allow me to make three announcements before I get to the heart of this newsletter:

I have something NEW planned for The Art Life. I’m hoping to share that information later in the week. Thank you for your interest and patience.

Rituals & Traditions:

a Workshop to End the Year

Saturday 27 December 2025

Noon - 2 pm PST

I hope that you will join me.

Register here

I’m offering NEW journals in a NEW way via my blog at NOON PST Wednesday 17 December 2025.

I’m keeping the prices very affordable and offering them by size (small or large) “grab bag” style. First come first served. Not everything available is shown above, that is only a sampling of what’s available.

At noon PST, please refresh my blog and the post will pop up.

Find them here at Noon PST on Wednesday

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” -Samuel Beckett

There is a pervasive idea that to “fail” at something implies that one shouldn’t ever try it again. Especially if one is learning an art.

Sit with that for a moment.

Now ask yourself, what do the words, art practice mean to you?

To be an artist, one needs interest, passion, and time.

Interest: Learning and practicing your craft.

Passion: The drive to create something.

Time: Means something different to each of us. For some it is daily while others, it is a few minutes when they can. All of it adds up.

What does it mean to fail as a creative person? It means you tried something that didn’t work at that time.

It means you learned from the creating and you can take those skills and try it again, and sometimes again, and again, and again.

To be an artist means to be seeking.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

“I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” -Vincent van Gogh

To be an artist means to fail, to learn, to keep trying and growing.

To be an artist means to be human.

As a working artist…Thank you for your likes, your shares (sharing really helps!), your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

❤️🎨

Kelly

A reminder about my workshop this weekend.

This time of year tends to be busy but I hope that you can make the time to nurture your creativity.

Juicy Living: an Art Journaling PWYCW Workshop Series

Saturday 13 December 2025 11 am PST (will be live and later available as a video recording for those who prefer to work at their own pace)

EVERY 2ND SATURDAY: Every month is something new, something different.

Note: You also have the option to support this pay what you can offering and subscribe monthly (the option is in the paypal button below when you register to enroll)

Find out more here

(work created for The Art Life Community Workshop, stay tuned for what’s coming in 2026!)

"Hope is not a form of guarantee; it’s a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark." -John Berger

As a working artist…Thank you for your likes, your shares, your interest, your engagement. I appreciate YOU.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey.

❤️🎨

Kelly

Workshops, Mentoring, Art, Ko-Fi, & More

As a working artist, please permit me a quick workshop announcement:

Juicy Living: a NEW Art Journaling PWYCW Workshop Series

NOW EVERY 2ND SATURDAY

Saturday 13 December 2025 11 am PST (will be live and later available as a video recording for those who want/need playback)

Create With Me

Money is tight for many of us.

Do you make a list BEFORE you go to the art store?

If you don’t, why not?

If you do, does it help to curb spending and impulse buys?

I’m a big list maker.

The other day, I was at Blick for some foam board and Phthalo Blue acrylic. I started looking at their long handled paint brushes for acrylic. I picked up a #4 round.

The $15 price tag reminded me to step back. I’m very lucky and privileged that Blick is near my home. I decided to wait, take inventory, and go back another day.

In doing so, I walked out having spent $23 and only buying what I really needed.

At home, I took inventory, and guess what? I have two long handled #4 brushes already, one well loved (TIP: save these brushes. The marks are unique to you) and the other is still new!

I also limit my palette and try to use what I have, but I’ll save that for another day.

Painting her in this Friday’s The Art Life: Building Your Visual Vocabulary Workshop (this week is a special NOON PST start time. Day or month passes are available. )

I hope to have an update in my Ko-Fi shop and be caught up for October and November’s booklets sometime next week.

“Art must be an integral part of life. It should breathe, move, and live.” -Antonio Mancini

As a working artist…Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey. I hope that it inspires your own creative path.

Kelly

❤️🎨

https://kellykilmer.blogspot.com/

Warm greetings from a very rainy Los Angeles.

A quick reminder that for the rest of 2025, my workshops (outside of The Art Life, which is purposely kept affordable) are either pay what you can or $35.

Register here

One of my favorite things to do is to create work inspired by the season we’re in.

I use color, patterns, motifs, and more for inspiration.

In Saturday’s workshop, in All the Colors of Autumn, you’ll look at how to glean inspiration from old work (such as the journal pages above), the season, and more and transform it into work that’s unique to you.

Explore color, collage, acrylic paint, drawing, and more!

My workshops are for everyone, beginner to advanced.

No matter what, I hope that you can make the time to nourish your creativity. It doesn’t take much time wise or even supply wise. I never leave my home without a small sketchbook and pencil.

In case you missed it:

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” -Albert Camus 

As a working artist…Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey. I hope that it inspires your own creative path.

Kelly

❤️🎨

https://kellykilmer.blogspot.com/

The rain is coming and I have lots on my To Do List. Still playing catch-up in life and work since early August threw us a curve ball.

I’ve announced a NEW WORKSHOP for Saturday, 22nd of August entitled:

All the Colors of Autumn

Art Journaling, Painting, and More

Saturday, 22 November 2025

11 AM to 1 PM PST

(like all of my workshops, it will be recorded and available for you to work at your own pace)

I love Autumn and all that she brings us. You can find out more here:

All the Colors of Autumn

In The Art Life, we’re under the spell of Autumn and all of her magic. I’ll be sharing what’s coming in The Art Life for 2026. Let’s just say, I’m very excited about the new possibilities. Until then, you’re always welcome to join us.

Learn more about The Art Life

Recent Inspiration

A friend gifted me a copy of All the Beauty in the World, which she bought while visiting The Met (very appropriate.) I finished it yesterday and I loved it.

I’ll leave you with a favorite quote from the book and you can decide if it may be of interest to you:

“Too many think the objective is to learn about art rather than from it.” 
-Patrick Bringley, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me

Frankenstein is absolutely everything (and more) that you would want from Guillermo del Toro, an auteur who has been under Mary Shelley’s spell since he was a lad.

I knew nothing about the book or the film (I prefer to go into a film knowing as little as possible other than the director’s name.) I can’t stop thinking about Hamnet.

I would recommend seeing both films on the biggest screen possible, if you can.

I’ve updated my Ko-Fi shop.

“So under the cover of no one hearing your thoughts, think brave thoughts, searching thoughts, painful thoughts, and maybe foolish thoughts, not to arrive at right answers but to better understand the human mind and heart as you put both to use.” 
-Patrick Bringley, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me

As a working artist…Thank you for reading this and being a part of the journey. I hope that it inspires your own creative path.

Kelly

❤️🎨

https://kellykilmer.blogspot.com/