The Journey

Life evolves in mysterious ways. I was an accounting major in college and topped it off with an MBA.  Until 2020, the only official art class I took was in 7th  grade, and that was only because it was mandatory  The junior high teacher hesitantly looked at me and said, “Nice left brain art.”  I was pretty sure it wasn’t a compliment. lol   I had convinced myself that I couldn’t draw a stick person with a ruler. 

 Life during the Covid lockdown got really dark. I’m an extrovert, and I need to be out of the house by 7:00  am -- to go somewhere, to see people, to separate time and space – to separate work from home --day from night—and differentiate the days of the week.  In searching for the light, I immersed myself in music and art.  Abstract art is the ultimate escape. It’s about trusting the process and losing control and seeing where the canvas and colors take you. It’s about not having a concrete plan but having faith that every stroke and every color will lead you somewhere.  It’s the only time that my brain truly let’s go.

 Art is a metaphor for life.  As the saying goes, “Life imitates art”. Sometimes the biggest flops turn into beauty, as we reimagine what can be.  We can’t be afraid to make mistakes. When paintings don’t turn out well,  I just start over and add another layer of paint. Layers on top of layers can turn into something complex and beautiful that could not have been foreseen and cannot be replicated.  Sometimes the end product is better than the initial vision because there’s more depth to the story and the added layers create a more interesting flavor.

 I start by imagining the colors.  If I start by imagining the final product, it never turns out that way….. ever. But that’s a good thing. I do not want to paint reality. Reality is about landscapes and still life portraits. I have too much reality in my reality. Why do I need more? I like abstract art because it’s about not having control and about not having rules and about a blank canvas. It’s about creating something from nothing or maybe it’s something from something – a canvas and paint.  The Covid lockdown was definitely The Void,  the black hole,  but there’s a phrase in Hebrew “Yesh Ayin Yesh”.   It means “the magic happens in the void.”  I, luckily, have turned the void of 2020 into a lifetime love of abstract art.

 Beauty and art are subjective and deeply personal.  I hope you enjoy the portfolio of art and labor of love.

 XOXO

Kimmy Von