Featured Artist Lisa Marie Kindley

Enjoy the ethereal beauty of artist Lisa Marie Kindley’s gentle nature-inspired landscape paintings. Learn more about her by visiting her website.

 

 

Art and nature have been integral to my life since childhood. Growing up in the beautiful green countryside of northwest Oregon, there were many rainy indoor days when I was encouraged to use my imagination, to be creative. My mother is an artist. She let me play with all of her drawing and painting materials.

 

 

During the spring and summer months, when playing outside, I enjoyed the lush flower and vegetable gardens and the small orchard that my father cultivated. Both of my parents love the outdoors. They took my siblings and myself on many hikes, picnics, and camping trips.

 

 

Then in autumn and winter, we all became avid readers, with weekly trips to the library. Once I discovered myths, folk and fairytales from around the world, that was all I wanted to read! These influences are still strong sources of inspiration for my artwork.

 

 

I try to hold on to the feeling of being a child in nature, full of wonder, fascinated by the beauty of the earthly world around me. I’m full of curiosity about the world that is unseen, the magic that is only sensed or dreamed, but is also very real. People often say that my paintings feel like fairylands, although I do not paint fairies. I like that the mood comes through without literal representation!

 

 

Throughout my art career, I have always loved bringing the element of fantasy into my painting. When I was doing murals and decorative painting in northern California, I enjoyed the feeling of theater and the whimsical, playful effect that trompe l’oeil can have in a room. They open the walls up to imagination.

 

 

I learned many methods and techniques during those years. I also learned that I love to paint big! When I began to explore new ideas, creating paintings to sell in galleries and art fairs, I still wanted to work on a large scale. So I developed my painted tapestries. They are unstretched canvas paintings with rustic frayed edges, designed to hang from a hidden dowel. I think of them as moveable murals, paintings that feel more softly integrated with the wall. Because of their size, the can immerse you in their world.

 

 

During this time, I went to Italy and was able to see in person the beautiful frescoes I had admired for years. I used the versatility of acrylic paints, layered with pastels, to try to achieve the soft, textured, aged look of the surfaces. I have also been developing my use of stencils. They are designed and cut out in organic shapes, leaves, flowers, branches, natural patterns made for the way I like to work.

 

 

It is a method for adding variety, complexity, and detail in quick and unexpected ways. The time spent in preparation lets the painting flow spontaneously and keeps the mood fresh!

 

 

Presently, I live in a little mountain village in northern New Mexico. The landscape is unlike anywhere I have lived before, but the influence of nature, especially the dramatic changes of the seasons, still affects me deeply. It has inspired me to focus recently on simply painting various trees, magical trees of all seasons, growing within serene dreamscapes. The influence of the unseen world emerges more slowly. How will it be revealed in my painting?

 

Lisa Marie Kindley invites you to follow her on Instagram.

 

 

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