Embracing an Unexpected Turning Point

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Embracing an Unexpected Turning Point"

Peregrine Horn
5 years ago
Views:

KATHLEEN DENIS Embracing an Unexpected Turning Point Florida oil painter Kathleen Denis uses vibrant color to create exceedingly pleasant paintings.

By Bob Bahr B y her own reckoning, Kathleen Denis traditionally paints art that is sweet or she did, until a recent experience made challenging subjects impossible to ignore.

1 KATHLEEN DENIS Embracing an Unexpected Turning Point Florida oil painter Kathleen Denis uses vibrant color to create exceedingly pleasant paintings. So why is she now painting twisted metal and destruction? By Bob Bahr B y her own reckoning, Kathleen Denis traditionally paints art that is sweet or she did, until a recent experience made challenging subjects impossible to ignore. Her paintings of beach scenes, intimate Florida still lifes, and charismatic wildlife are so appealing that she was for a time one of the most successful licensed artists in the United States, with her designs featured on everything from wallpaper to rugs, in stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond. For 15 years she plied the trade shows, traveling regularly and keeping a staff of Kathleen Denis ARTIST DATA NAME: Kathleen Denis BIRTH YEAR: 1957 LOCATION: Tavernier, FL INFLUENCES: Edward Hopper, Joaquín Sorolla, Connie Hayes. WEBSITE: 32 five busy with the details and logistics. Her art Old White House was licensed to more than 40 manufacturers and 2016, oil, 8 x 10 in. applied to hundreds of products. And then I got burned out, says Denis. There was a lot of stress, a lot of demands. I Part of the Keys Cottages series was constantly thinking of seasonal changes, what the trendy colors were, what s happefrustration with her busy life and her increaning overseas. I remember painting on a train sing devotion to her Christian faith. The five because I had a deadline. It was that kind of paintings were a key tool when Denis visited stress. I couldn t stop the momentum. We had a women s prisons in her continuing effort to infabulous life, but I gave it up. fuse her life and the lives of others with purpose She stopped painting almost completely. In and grace she painted a series of watercolors called A I took the chance, and I got away and Scream for Silence, in which Denis depicted her thought about what was really important, she

Tea Lime 2016, oil, 11 x 14 in. Part of the Taking Time Out series. Best Plein Air in the PleinAir Salon, June-July 2016 contest Selfie Time 2016, oil, 11 x 14 in.

I was going into jails and using the message of the paintings to bring hope and restoration to these girls lives. That s it; in one word, the message was hope.

That s what I want to do bring hope in hopeless situations. About five years after those paintings, I finally decided to pick up my brush again.

2 Tea Lime 2016, oil, 11 x 14 in. Part of the Taking Time Out series. Best Plein Air in the PleinAir Salon, June-July 2016 contest Selfie Time 2016, oil, 11 x 14 in. Studio Part of the Taking Time Out series recalls. The result was these five paintings from I was going into jails and using the message of the paintings to bring hope and restoration to these girls lives. That s it; in one word, the message was hope. I wrote Bible studies that went along with different elements of my paintings. At the end of my visit, some of the women would share. One said, I have seen that I can have hope regardless of my past. That s what I want to do bring hope in hopeless situations. About five years after those paintings, I finally decided to pick up my brush again. However, I said I was going to paint the way I wanted and not on the demand of these corporations. If they like it, they can take it, but I am going to enjoy painting. At the start of the new decade, Denis began exploring plein air events. Her first was the Forgotten Coast En Plein Air Invitational on the Florida Panhandle, and she enjoyed it enough to apply for the Wekiva Paint Out, held north of Orlando. From there I participated in other juried competitions, Denis recalls. And then that frustration returned, and I was feeling that drive feeling competitive again, and feeling the stress that often accompanies it. I had to stop myself, and say, This is not why I am painting. I Cozy Spot Part of the Taking Time Out series / December 2017-January

Upside Down and Inside Out On Top of It 2017, oil, 9 x 12 in. Studio needed a new perspective so I wouldn t lose that joy again.

In the very beginning of my career, I was painting for myself, but the businesses started art-directing me.

appeared. It was how we made a living. I got completely burned out.

3 Upside Down and Inside Out On Top of It 2017, oil, 9 x 12 in. Studio needed a new perspective so I wouldn t lose that joy again. It is my temptation to be competitive and strive for the top. Denis again reset herself and began painting what appealed to her. In the very beginning of my career, I was painting for myself, but the businesses started art-directing me. Color palette, subject matter it was all driven by the desires of the corporations that were manufacturing the products on which my art appeared. It was how we made a living. I got completely burned out. Then I went to plein air, but at that point, I was drawn to painting chairs, flowers, and houses. Painting a broad landscape was sort of new for me. A lot of people said my art was sweet. Well, I like sweet things, sweet Shredded But Not Destroyed 34

Before the Storm It was a horrific experience, she says. We came back when it was dark. The next morning we took a drive and saw a neighbor s house with the exterior completely destroyed.

4 Before the Storm It was a horrific experience, she says. We came back when it was dark. The next morning we took a drive and saw a neighbor s house with the exterior completely destroyed. It was all twisted metal, with the awning torn off. Later, I went down to the lower Keys. It s not in the press too much anymore, but these people are still very much in need. My jaw just dropped. I saw where a tree went right through a trailer. Suddenly, painting charming scenes such as two empty and inviting Adirondack chairs in the sun gave way to depictions of destruction in Denis s work. She says she felt compelled to do something, and as a painter, one thing she knows she can do is paint. Denis began a series of paintings of the aftermath of Irma, auctioning them off on her own through Facebook, with 100 percent of the proceedings going to the victims of the hurricane. Art can bring so much joy to people, whether you are painting it or buying it, she says. Seeing someone tear up when they look at one of my pieces gives me so much joy. But I have been led by my heart to do this kind of painting. I like to paint sweet things. But I am loving doing this. It gives so much more meaning and purpose to the art. Denis is acting as both a maker and a conduit, creating something, and giving others a way to help specific individuals affected by Hurricane Irma. In her Facebook posts announcing a painting s auction, Denis tells the story of the foods, and sweet people. I like pretty things. So at campgrounds, and had a little fishing boat. I painting, and of the person or entity it involves. I fought against that at first. I thought that I was said when I grew up I want to live in the Keys. The response has been strong. supposed to be like all the other plein air artists And then we inherited a house down there. It s Bidding wars break out, says the artist. and do big vistas, but I wanted to paint chairs all about tank tops, flip flops, and shorts. We People want to help out in this way. By buying and other charming things. So that s what I haven t lived there during a hurricane, but you these paintings, locals are putting out money to started doing again. feel your stress level go down immediately when help someone and to have a piece of art to redenis is Florida through and through. She you drive down Route 1, the Overseas Highmember this time. In my posts, I talk about the was born in Miami, grew up in Fort Lauderdale, way. painting, the scene, the people, so they can feel graduated from the University of Miami, and Denis told us this in August. On Septemit, they can understand what I was feeling and she now lives in the Florida Keys. Is it any ber 11, Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys a what these people were feeling. It s amazing. You wonder her paintings are colorful? The vivid Category 4 hurricane that took 72 Floridian just see people helping each other everywhere. pink of bougainvillea, the pale turquoise waters lives and wreaked at least $50 billion in damage. Her stories are poignant. The person the colors are bright and unique they The Keys were hit hard. Denis and her loved who lived in what is now wreckage, which is almost seem made up, says Denis. Since I was ones had evacuated, and when they returned, crowned by a volunteer wielding a chainsaw a child we took vacations in the Keys, stayed the destruction shook her. in one of Denis s painting, is an artist who / December 2017-January

Favorite Spot 2017, oil, 16 x 20 in. Part of the Keys Cottages series makes ukuleles out of cigar boxes. The tattered American flag in another once hung in the upstairs bar of a popular restaurant.

Although he is a single parent, he didn t want to accept the money from Denis, from her auction. She eventually convinced him to accept some help.

5 Favorite Spot 2017, oil, 16 x 20 in. Part of the Keys Cottages series makes ukuleles out of cigar boxes. The tattered American flag in another once hung in the upstairs bar of a popular restaurant. The owner of a house in shambles Denis painted, complete with the twisted metal and jutting debris, is a young man who is a charter boat captain. He lost his job, his boat, and his house. Although he is a single parent, he didn t want to accept the money from Denis, from her auction. She eventually convinced him to accept some help. 36 Her Restoring Paradise series of paintings went out at sunset to a popular restaurant called may be raising money for those in a tough spot, Marker 88, which just reopened. People were but they still have that trademark Denis color still very raw; very few restaurants had opened. and sense of light. Even in rubble, there is beau- One woman in tears came up to me and said, I ty. Denis sounds like she s on fire, painting with just want to thank you for painting, because a mission. But even as her objective becomes now I know that the Keys are coming back. more serious, her paintings stay vibrant. Whatever I paint and wherever I am, my desire She s finding it easy to tweak her plans to is to use my art to bring joy to others. accommodate her new series. A few months ago, she started a group called the Island Painters Al- BOB BAHR has been writing and editing articles liance, and their delightful goal was to hop from about art instruction for more than 12 years. He one Caribbean island to another and depict the lives with his wife and two young sons at the northlocal scenes. In the aftermath of Irma, this group ern tip of Manhattan. has redirected itself to paint scenes in the Keys, with the proceeds benefiting hurricane victims. See more of Kathleen Denis s paintin the meantime, Denis is busy doing what ings in the expanded digital edition of she can to help the battered Keys. We recently PleinAir.

Devoting Oneself to Plein Air Later in Life

artist profile SHERYL KNIGHT Devoting Oneself to Plein Air Later in Life Developing a passionate interest in plein air painting can happen at any point in an artist s career; the necessary skills can be