Oil paint is the medium I have chosen to express myself.  Oil painting comes from a rich historical tradition.  It comes from a specific visual language of illusion and representation, balancing the gap between the illusion of reality and the reality of physical paint on canvas.  This is done by exploring and pushing the color and composition, and experimenting with mediums, glazes, and washes and so that the line between representation and abstraction begins to blur and the paint has a life of its own which works in tandem with the imagery.

Kimanne Smith's
PAINTING PROCESS

Kimanne Smith has been an oil painter for over 25 years.  Her work is based on traditional oil portraiture in that she is able to capture a likeness of the sitter, however she likes to show more of the painting process than a traditional oil portrait does.  She feels that a painting should not just try to imitate a photograph, but it should also be about the paint itself.

You can see where she begins with oil washes and drips of paint.  Next, she incorporates a wax medium (Dorland¹s Wax Medium) which is a soft wax (and sometimes mixes paint into it) applying it with a palette knife.  After it dries, she uses scumbling, brush strokes and the palette knife to complete the painting.

In this way, the painting emotes depth through these various paint layers which gives the portrait a more intriguing and engaging appearance.  It also gives you a sense of spirituality.

Work Examples