Kimberly Kelly Santini on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Kimberly Kelly Santini shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Kimberly Kelly, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
My kids. Somehow, I grew, nurtured and fledged three insanely fascinating, compassionate young adults. They inspire me to be a better human every day – they show me how to live life and love harder. And I know they will do incredible things in their own ways, with their own voices. It is an honor to watch them shine, and whenever I get to spend time with them I am simply awestruck that this is something I had a hand in.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am an acrylic painter who works intuitively in a disrupted realism sort of way, living in a small town inside the thumb of Michigan. In 2000 I left the corporate world, presumably to focus on raising our three kids, all under the age of 6. I started painting during nap time, had gallery representation a few months in, and spent the next 20 years making art in my home studio and building my business alongside my growing family. I committed to daily painting in 2006 – and continue almost 20 years later to go into the studio at least 5-6 days a week. Pet portraiture (I created www.PaintingaDogaDay.com) evolved into more complex paintings that speak to the balance of life, with compositions featuring the animals I dream of and encounter in the real world as vessels containing the landscape. My work has been eagerly collected around the world, with pieces in museums and notable private collections. I have gallery representation in North Carolina, Colorado and Maryland, while also supporting robust sales direct from my studio. In addition to making art I teach (in person and online) and run a student membership focused on helping others find their creative style. I am currently actively working on my oil painting technique and obsessed with skies and the cosmos – no idea what either of these fascinations will bring about, but I am diving into them whole heartedly.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child I thought something was wrong with me. I felt things more fully than those around me, saw the world as bigger brighter bolder, built odd relationships between unrelated objects and lived wholeheartedly in my imagination. I asked so many questions and was stifled. I craved for more information than text books or teachers could provide. I was told I was too emotional, too sensitive, a daydreamer, overly dramatic, out of touch with the real world – and I actually believed those voices. I truly tried to be what was expected and felt traitorous to myself and yet that seemed to be the only way to exist. I truly, deeply struggled. I was incredibly lonely. I thought I was broken, I wasn’t strong enough to conform, that there was something incrediblywrong with me. It wasn’t until college and my early adulthood that I found like souls and community with other creatives – there were plenty others like me and they were gloriously colorful and welcoming. I realized that I had always been fully whole, just simply not fully appreciated. Once I stopped trying to please others and began following my own internal muse, things began aligning in my life that I couldn’t have fathomed.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I have had several of these – primarily being estrangement and betrayals – and each has reaffirmed the premise that self must come first. When I focus on other’s well being (I am a fixer) and ignore my own, I become smaller and less able to be truthful while also enabling toxic patterns. I had to learn to value my own authentic voice so as to set healthy boundaries and be able to show up more fully for others. This wasn’t a matter of flipping a switch – it is a journey I continue to work on. Through a daily art practice (that includes journalling as well as art making separate from what I bring to the market), talk therapy, shadow work, regular reflection and honest communication, I am learning how to listen to my innermost self and articulate (without guilt!) what I need. I also am using my painting practice as a means to work through concerns via a personal symbolic language honed over the years. Learning to speak my truth with spoken words and painted marks continues to provide healing and growth.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
I think my imagery comes through me from some other energetic space (have you listened to Liz Gilbert’s Ted Talk on creativity?). The technique I learn and the ritual of showing up at the easel allows the ideas to show up, and if I am successful in getting out of their way (I am an intuitive painter), I end up with pieces I simply could not have imagined or constructed consciously.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Never.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.KimberlySantini.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimsantini/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyKellySantini/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kimberlykellysantini
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/c/KimberlyKellySantini

Image Credits
all images © Kimberly Kelly Santini