I didn't really think of myself as an artist for the longest time. Doing creative and artistic things came so naturally to me that I didn't really put a label on it. Kim was just a person who drew and painted and made clothes and cooked and loved art class. I realize now that this well of creativity that exists within me necessarily leads one to the label of "Artist. " It became glaringly apparent that I was an artist when I realized that I see every wall, every space, everything I guess for that matter, as a canvas. The fact that I feel compelled to use every form of creative expression and artistic medium there is, that I gotta try that feeling I keep getting when I walk through an art supply store, might have been a clue as well.

As an Arizonan, born and bred, my art is of course impacted by the life and unique beauty of Arizona, most especially the desert. I'm affected both by the muted tones of the desert and the striking vibrancy of the flowers that bloom after the winter rains. As a result, my art touches on both those muted tones, and that almost garish display of color, as if Mother Nature took jars of bright colored paint and splashed them across her landscape. You'll probably also notice the bright colors of the Spanish and Mexican cultural influence evident in the Southwestern United States, also evident in many of my fine art and jewelry pieces. My exposure to Native American art and the art of Santa Fe, New Mexico showed me the value of symbolism in art, and as such, most of my fine art pieces and much of my jewelry use symbols to convey what I'm trying to express. Even the colors I use can have meaning, the most obvious being my use of a particular blue in my watercolors as a symbol of the never ending Arizona sky. I also use iridescence as a symbol of the spirit that exists within us all. There is more, even to those symbols, but I leave that to you to ponder and to define in your own fashion. After all, while art may be the artist's expression, it is also in the eye of the beholder. As such, I do not wish to lead or discount thoughts, impressions and interpretations of the beholder.

My art is my way of speaking. There is a part of me spiritually, emotionally and sometimes, even politically, in each piece of fine art, or jewelry. As an example, I use female nudes to raise feminist issues. By that I mean the issues that affect women, their lives, their culture, the impact of the men with whom they come into contact, the high points and the deepest depths of despair that so many women experience in life. Many of these speak to the more current, and for want of a better term, trendy issues, while some speak to the darker aspects of being a woman, both as an adult and a child. These latter pieces some people find disturbing. They are however, nothing more than the true experience of women. They are universal.

I am happy and grateful for this opportunity to share my art with you and I welcome you to my gallery. I hope that on the whole you find it to be a happy and uplifting place and that you will visit often. My muses are demanding, mercurial and have the attention span of a gnat. Therefore, you never know what I'll be working on or what new things will be here for you to see and enjoy. Maybe some of it will even make you think. Thank you for stopping by and don't forget to check out gallery news to find out what’t new here and where and when I am showing. You can go to the Contact page if you would like to commission a piece of fine art, order a piece of custom made jewelry, or if you have a comment or question.