Every now and again, I’ll be inspired to dip a brush into a glob of paint.  Usually when I paint, that glob is actually a paint tray and I’m up on a ladder.  But that’s not the kind of painting I’m talking about.  

I’ve been drawing and painting since the 2nd grade, well drawing at least.  I’ve won tiny little awards in elementary school for poster contests and did some stuff here and there throughout my life, but never really took up art like some of my classmates such as  Cully Hamner, who unwittingly taught me how to draw cartoon faces during rehearsals for the school play,  or  acquaintances like Brandon Newton  who I recently met while doing the Historic Fredericksburg Tour of Homes,  and I am certainly not the great artist these guys are.    

Fate, God or just plain old inspiration drives something in me to create something someone hangs on their wall…at least I hope it’s hanging on their wall. 

When my friend, Melanie,  posted the photo of her daughter’s competition, I thought it was a beautiful photo – especially the way the light filtered through the layered tutu and Lillie Beth’s perfect poise.   I wanted to turn that photo into a painting…

I wasn’t sure how it would turn out or if I could even capture the light well, but I think it turned out pretty darn good.

Sometimes I’ll get  a request I’m  honored to fulfill, and for Stephanie, she wanted to give her husband a gift for retirement.  Stephanie sent  a  20 year old photo of Matt from boot camp graduation for me to use.

I think the hardest part was trying to figure out what to do for the background.  The Eagle, Globe and Anchor was an easy decision, but it took some time to figure out the right background.  I did some research and found a waving flag with words from the Pledge of Allegiance…it was the perfect solution.

 Here’s Stephanie giving Matt his gift.

 A few years ago, while my son was attending Winding Creek Elementary school,  he brought home a volunteer form for a school fundraiser.  It was actually a great idea Amy Hall came up with to have participants “auction off” goods and services.   The great thing was, everyone donated their item and the school did well in the fund raising effort.  So here I was, still working for the government and not sure what kind of service I could offer and I certainly didn’t have any products.   So, not really thinking it through, I sent in a blank piece of canvas scribbled with “Your artwork here.”    The premise was that I would meet with the winner of the auction and basically paint whatever he or she wanted.  

Then I got an email telling me who the highest bidder was.  Well, the name did not ring a bell and I was struck with a measure of panic.   Who was this person I would be meeting with…at their home?  I looked up the name and address and it was in Reston, VA.  For those not familiar with Virginia, Reston is about 40 miles away, but in Virginia, we don’t make travel plans based on distance, we make travel plans based on travel time – 40 miles takes an average of 90 minutes.    

The other big question was who’s child goes to Winding Creek but lives in Reston?  Mystery solved, it was the grandfather of one of the students who was  in the midst of building his retirement home here in Stafford.  Though I only anticipated meeting with them and creating a piece of artwork, what transpired definitely changed my course in life.  

Bill had this property on the River for some time and there was a portion of the property where he and Nancy could see their daughter’s property.  It became the artwork for the auction piece.

After seeing some of their other paintings they picked up from around the world, I could tell what style they preferred, so with a bit of artistic freedom, here’s what that photo became -

Then I went on to create a painting of the facade of their home as a housewarming gift from me to them.   Here is the home while it was still under construction.

Here’s me painting – don’t you just love my “professional” studio?  Styrofoam plates make for great palettes.

Here is the final painting…

 Not only did I paint a few pieces for them, but  Bill and Nancy became clients and great friends.    What they don’t know is that the experience helped me make the decision to leave government work and start my own company.  

I suppose you can tell I don’t have a particular “style.”  I just paint what people want and only have a few of my own paintings hung  in my home.   I do have a diptych I produced for a client who wanted an Italian style landscape incorporating her daughter and granddaughters, unfortunately  the paintings weren’t large enough for the client, so I still have these in storage for anyone who wants them.   They are acrylics, each on  36×48  gallery wrapped canvas. 

Here’s what they look like side by side

Maybe one day I’ll have time to take art classes, until then, hope you enjoyed my ramblings about random things!

Kate