KIMBERLY GUARDIPEE

Where The Paint Leads Me

KIMBERLY IS A PHOTOGRAPHER THROUGH AND THROUGH. JOINING BEYOND THE BRUSHES THE FIRST WEEK IT OPENED WAS A PLUNGE THAT HELPED ELEVATE HER PHOTOGRAPHY WITH A PAINTERLY TWIST.

Before Beyond the Brushes, Kimberly’s painting experience was limited to her high school projects with acrylics. However, it was photography that captured her heart. You can still hear that love alive and well when talking to her about her original captures for this series. Natural light and studio strobes are her go-to choices to try and make the most organic portrait.

For this series, she utilized a mixture of setups. Ultimately, several were taken with cell phones and without much thought given to the lighting because the natural light did the trick. Others were taken with a single studio strobe. When shooting with a studio strobe outdoors, Kimberly typically uses a 2’x3’ softbox. The additional lighting with the studio strobe gives her the feeling of more depth to the subject. An added bonus is once it is pulled into Photoshop the picture also seems easier to paint.

So why did Kimberly choose to paint in Photoshop? She wanted to take what was in her brain and put it onto paper, and that really came through with this series. Kimberly set out to try something new. The goal of the first painting was to emphasize the face, keep the background simple, and just let the paint take her wherever it led. The rest just followed suit.

Working freehand in the lines and shapes really allowed her to let the paint move and go where it felt right. A modified version of Brushy Goodness did the guiding, and Kimberly relished being able to let the paint take her where it wanted to go. She kept the facial features mostly painted and implied the rest of the clothing with her lines.

To accentuate the paint, Kimberly elected to leave the background as close to the color of the original canvas as possible. Then, when it came to the actual subjects, Kimberly found that the lesson on problem images came into play. Those skills have proved to be invaluable throughout all of her paintings even though they weren’t necessarily her favorite lesson.

Overall, the hardest part for Kimberly was second-guessing herself about being free with her brushwork. Her main concern was how the images would end up looking in print, but during her time in Beyond the Brushes, she has learned to just keep painting and pushing herself even if she feels stuck. This helped her finish the series strong and continue to follow the paint.

Kimberly ended with one last piece of advice. Keep an art journal! She said, “It’s really encouraging to look back and see where we started and realize that even when we feel stuck we are still learning and improving.”

KIMBERLY GOES WITH THE FLOW OF THE DAY AND THE MOOD. WHETHER IT’S PIANO AND CELLO MIX, WORSHIP, OLD COUNTRY, CURRENT POP, OR DANCE, YOU ARE SURE TO FIND HER GOING WHERE THE PAINT LEADS HER.