The Blog Hop Around the World

click here to go to my Etsy cityscape section

My website: www.kimstenberg.com
My blog: http://www.kimstenbergart.blogspot.com
My Etsy shop: Kim Stenberg Fine Art
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kimstenbergfineart


I am thrilled to be part of the Blog Hop Around the World.  My friend and fellow artist, Jo Mackenzie, was the one who honored me with her invitation.  She is a terrific watercolorist whose artistic enthusiasm and productivity are legendary.  She is also one of the most generous persons I know!

I am what they call a self-taught artist, as I don't have any art degrees.  I do, however, have three advanced degrees in history.  I received a PhD degree in British history from the University of Minnesota in 1993 and has taught history at the college level for 20 years until my early retirement.

click here to go to my Etsy floral section

Turning 50 was the reason for my foolhardy decision to become a full-time artist.  Although I was delusional about selling my paintings like hotcakes, quitting my job and committing myself to what I always wanted to do made all the difference.  I have been working prodigiously hard for the last four years and, I believe, my paintings have improved tremendously.

One of my "problems" is that I like to paint pretty much everything!  I paint figure, animal, landscape, floral, and occasionally still life.  I paint in two very different mediums of oil and watercolor in quite different styles.  I find beauty in so many things that I want to try to render them in paint, to see if I can make them come alive by capturing light striking them.

click here to go to my Etsy landscape section

The turning point in my art business came about when I started painting pet portraits in the summer of the last year, partly influenced by my friend, Jo Mackenzie.  Who knew I had a natural knack for capturing the spirit, not just the likeness, of cats and dogs!  My pet portraits have brought joys of tears to my clients.

click here to go to my Etsy custom pet portrait section

The success of my custom pet portraits led me to venture into the portrait business.  I plan to take classes with a renowned portrait artist, Danni Dawson, for the next couple of years to strengthen my portraits.

click here to go to my Etsy custom portrait section

I like to work in series.  The collage below was created with some of the watercolor floral still lifes I painted in March 2013.  Yes, I work in watercolors too!  In fact, I used to be a watercolorist for a long time until I decided to try oils several years ago.

click here to go to my Etsy watercolor section

As I like to challenge myself, in the summer of 2013, I did a series of watercolors on Yupo, one of the most difficult surfaces to paint on.  Here is the collage that resulted from my Yupo Challenge.

click here to go to my Etsy watercolor section

My current passion is cityscapes.  As a big city girl from Seoul, Korea, I love what big cities can offer--monuments, museums, parks, bridges, boulevards, bustling neighborhoods, etc. My favorite cities--Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Venice, etc.--are my muse!


Now I am passing the baton to my friend, CJ Roughton.  CJ paints in oils and likes to paint people and pets.  She has been nursing her sick husband for the past months, and is excited to get back to the game with the Blog Hop.  She will post next Monday the 20th. Stay tuned!

"Lilac Spring" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

sold

There is something special about spring air.  It is not just warm.  It is also fragrant with lilac scent!

By the way, I am working in a series this year.  I already finished the first series of nine paintings without a theme.  I happened to have nine 8" x 10" stretched canvases, hehe!  

My first series of paintings this year

The second series in progress is called "I Love Color".  Each painting is devoted to a particular color.  For instance, "Poipu Beach Sunset" is a mauve painting; "White Garden", a white painting; "Big Sur Blue", a blue painting; and "Red Poppies", obviously a red one!  They are going to be all 12" x 16" paintings.

My second series in progress: "I Love Color"

"Lilac Spring" is the second painting in the third series, "Floral Squares".  This series will be all 12" x 12".    

My third series: "Floral Squares"

The idea behind my 2014 series is to work within a certain size and format, which will suggest its own possibilities and limitations.  I am also painting larger than the so-called "daily paintings", spending more time on each painting.  No more rushing to get a painting done so that I can move on to the next one.  Believe me, it has been exhausting.  I will have more time to reflect, putz around my garden, take a walk in a park, go to museums, and have a hot date with my husband.  I will have life again!

August Newsletter

Hello, everybody!

Can you believe summer is almost over?  I hope you are all enjoying a great summer. We Virginians have been blessed with some lovely weather this year!  

I started a new, fun, ongoing series--"Pet Portraits".   If you love to see your beloved pet painted by me and shared on my blog and Facebook page, please email me at kimstenbergart@gmail.com.  Send me a picture or two, preferably taken in natural light without flash.  I will do a drawing at the end of September and give one painting away!  Since I first made the call for pet pictures last Friday, I already painted four pet portraits! I am totally out of photos at the moment and waiting for more.  Please check out my blog for the stories behind these beautiful cats and dogs.  

"Collage of Pet Portraits I"

When you are sending me pictures of your pets, don't forget to add their names, ages, breeds, and some fun facts.  And please send me more than one picture. My paintings will be as good as the reference photos, as I give every painting 110%.  I will work in oil for these pet portraits in various sizes, such as 6" x 8", 8" x 8", and 8" x 10". If you like the painting of your pet, you can buy it later.  By the way, it doesn't have to be cats and dogs; I can paint any animals.  Are you a birder?  I can paint from your favorite pictures!  The only condition is that you took the pictures yourself (because of copyright issues).

"Collage of Birds for Birders"

It was a summer without a vacation for me.  Instead, I've had a different kind of fun, creating watercolor paintings.  You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to switch back and forth between mediums. Watercolors do something oils cannot do; there are things one can do only with oils.  As I told a friend of mine, by renewing my watercolor ways, which were my first love, I doubled the fun!  I am sharing the collage of the paintings I did during my explorations on Yupo painting last month.  How do you like the collage of my July paintings? 

The paintings are available on my website or on my Etsy shop.  The prices are the same on both sites, but they offer you different ways of viewing and buying my art. Please check them out.

"Collage of My July 2013 Watercolor Paintings

My original plan for July was to do some more boat paintings, but I got distracted as you can see above!  A boat painting from June ("After Independence Day"), however, was juried into the prestigious annual landscape show at the Art League Gallery in Alexandria, VA this month!

"After Independence Day" (oil, 12"x 16"; $500)
For purchase information, email gallery@theartleague.org, or call 703-683-1780.

Exciting things happen in Kim Stenberg Fine Art Studio!  Thank you for your continuing interest in my art.  Enjoy the rest of the summer!