Bridge Coffee House

Hanging this exhibit was pure pleasure.  My sweet, helpful mother-in-law was my extra pair of hands.  I had so many hanging issues figured out from hanging at Soma Salon for the Edmonds Art Walk, and the company and coffee at the Bridge was delightful!  Thank you to those who came out to the reception.  What a blessing to have this venue!  Thank you Trent Siverson.

Art In The Alley

Art In The Alley with Columbia City Gallery was a great way to spend a summer Saturday.  Loved talking to people about the art.  The other artists were interesting and supportive!  One of my paintings went all the way to Chicago the next day!  Thank you Mary Peterson of Funky Fibers for sharing this experience with me!  You can see more of my art on http://www.kimbraymanart.com/

ArtSplash

ArtSplash was a smashing success.  Was very happy to sell three paintings and enjoy the good company of fellow artists in the process.




Continuing to follow a new trend and at the same time build my portfolio with new Birds.

"The Conversation" for instance.

The new Trend looks something like this:


A whole new look, I know...  Visual emotional expression with a theme has always been a desire of mine.  But there has to be a point.  It needs to be about something in order to be more than decorative as an abstract.  This is about my personal vision of the flow of the Holy Spirit.  The icons are the cruciform and the streams.  The themes are expressed in the titles and the moods of the paintings.  To see more, check out my website: http://www.kimbraymanart.com/index.htmlwww.

Bird Paintings Popular

My little Chickadees sold right away at the Soma Salon Exhibit.  Thank you to all who stopped by!  You can see more paintings at my website: http://www.kimbraymanart.com

New exhibit at Soma Salon

Here I am  finally finished with the hanging at the Soma Salon in Edmonds.  I have 18 paintings hanging about the place.  Thank you to the good people at the Salon who let me work around them for two nights.  They were so supportive, patient and helpful!


I'll be there in the Washington Federal Building for the Third Thursday Art Walk in Edmonds.  The building is at the corner of Dayton and Fifth and the Salon is inside.  We're on the  official Art Walk map.  I'll have strawberries, cookies and lemonade and be available to talk about my process.  Please join me sometime between 5 and 8pm on Thursday, June 16th.

Why birds and trees?

Talkin' about the birds and the trees...and it's all about love.  (I always end up singing!)  There is a story behind all those trees and birds I paint.  The metaphors are the spine of the two themes and love is behind it all.  There is always either relationship or voice in the subject of my paintings.  


In the bird paintings, the couples portrayed are linked in an environment that surrounds them and protects them.  They're often cozying up together or face to face building relationship.  They invite the viewer to ponder the joy and contentment of having a close partner to share an experience with in an environment that is warm and protected.  They are at home with each other.  They echo the blessings of my own relationships.


What about those little laughing birds that keep showing up in the trees and what do trees have to do with the name on the studio?  In my mind, trees have always been linked metaphorically to our human connectedness and they're part of the story behind 'Laughing Bird Art'.  I had been slogging away at learning to use acrylic paints and mediums without much success.  When I began to ponder and pray about the idea of using subject matter that I was practiced at, I realized that my journey would be simplified if I just 'did what I know', reducing the variables in the equation to just the mediums.  The first group of trees I painted was my first real personal success (whew!).  You can see a portion of that painting in the logo.  But that's only part of the story...


Imagine me, an almost empty nester who has left her art alone for a couple of decades, gradually realizing I had time to begin to create something besides well rounded kids.  And, in fact, had better find something to do BEFORE the last bird had flown.  No job prospects, a very supportive husband and some time.  Then think of all the stumbling blocks (Housework? Shopping? Track Meets?).  The usual excuses, ridicule from well meaning people trying to ground me in reality and learning a new medium that stubbornly refuses to DO WHAT I WANT IT TO.  Pretty discouraging after awhile. Who did I think I was, wasting my time this way? It seemed like even the birds were laughing at me (can you spell paranoia?).  Then one day that tree painting just fell out of a prayerful quest for an artistic success and I suddenly felt like the birds were no longer laughing AT me, but laughing WITH me at the sheer joy of creating something I LOVED!  So I keep painting about connectedness and joy and home with subjects that I know and it's all tied together in LOVE.  

Edmonds Art Walk

Nothing like a little motivation to create!  I'm getting ready for the June Edmonds Third Thursday Art Walk.  My paintings of trees and birds will be in the Soma Salon for the month of June and I will be there on Art Walk night hoping to see friends and art lovers walking through.  I've had so much fun with variations on the theme of birds and trees!  Different palettes for each series and all full of lively texture, color and movement.  Hope you'll join me on June 19th at the Salon in the Washington Federal Building on the corner of 5th and Dayton!

New works for a new season...

It's funny how the natural world impacts us even when we're not really paying attention.   By natural, I mean 'nature'.  I discovered a couple of years ago that my palette changes when the seasons do.  Fall and winter I go for warm, deep colors and when spring hints that it's about to make it's appearance I unconsciously find myself going for new greens, brighter tints and even start to hint at beachy colors.  Somehow the subject matter remains the same, though.  Depicting impressions of events, relationship, visual delight and spirit.  Abiding, pervasive themes that are a constant in my life.   I'm thankful that I have an outlet for the expression of them.  Fun, too!  kimbraymanart.com

'The Proposal III'

'Crocus'

'Unfurling'

More Birds

'By Your Side'

"We Two'

New Exhibit

I will be participating in a narrative exhibit at the Ida Culver House called 'Looking at the World Through Story'. There will be five of my works in the exhibit.  Sixteen local artists will be represented.  It will be installed from March 24 through July 17th, 2011.  You can find the Ida Culver House at 12505 Greenwood Ave. N in Seattle.  For a look at some of the images, check out my website:  kimbraymanart.com


New Painting-

Fly With Me