KIM DENISE

Painter of a Luminous World

text by Peter McLaughlin

images by Kim Denise

 

The image of a water glass in a Kim Denise painting tempts the viewer to tap the rim with a fingernail to hear it chime. Her freshly sliced onions hint of teary eyes, and the fabric that cradles an apple begs to be touched.

 

      Such is the art of this remarkable artist who started painting just two years ago.  "I did my first real painting after my mother and son gave me an easel for my fortieth birthday," she says.  "At the time all I had to work with was a few sticks of pastels, and I hadn't touched them in years. You could say that birthday gift changed my life! I started painting every day and haven't looked back. I've also acquired quite a few more pastels."

 

       Denise paints still life images of glassware, plates, fruit and napkins that are rich in color and luminosity, finely detailed and masterful at catching reflections. Her eye for painting distortions through glass is uncannily accurate.

 

      Denise says she didn't select pastel as her medium. Instead, pastel selected her. "I was living in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, when I had the urge to do something creative. I asked the people at a local art supply store if anyone in the neighborhood taught painting and they directed me to a retired art teacher who lived just two blocks away. She worked in soft pastel. From the first time I touched a pastel stick I was hooked! I loved the tactile nature of the medium and the fact that there were no tools between my fingers and the paper. For me, as a gardener, it was as satisfying as getting my hands in the soil."

 

Where some still life painters choose elegant subjects--fine glass, bone china, sterling silver--Denise paints everyday articles she finds in her own kitchen. The draped fabric behind a milk glass is a simple cotton napkin from her own drawer.  "I've been known to photograph my dish drainer every day for a week to catch the light at different times of day. No object is ordinary," she says, "if you look at it carefully enough and find the right light. It's not the subject that's important, it's the treatment of the subject that matters."

 

      "When I first started painting," says Denise, "I turned to the internet for help and found this marvelous website, WetCanvas!  where I could submit my work for critiquing and talk to other artists -- some struggling new artists like myself and some long time professionals. While working online with Dianna Ponting, the renowned Canadian pastelist, I found my true calling as a realist. Ponting had posted a reference image as part of a group project and the painting I did of it surprised and pleased me. I had been able to capture the reflection of fabric on a shiny silver sugar bowl, and I did it without using any 'shiny' colors. That's when I realized, Hey! I can do this!"

 

       Denise starts her paintings with a pencil drawing. She carefully measures each object so the proportions are right. "Unlike a tree, which allows for a certain flexibility, manufactured products must be symmetrical." She transfers the drawing to a sheet of grainy-surfaced sand paper made just for pastels. This paper has a lot of 'tooth' to hold many layers of pastel. She works slowly, experimenting with colors and values as she goes along. "Because I'm self taught," she says, "I have to find out for myself what works and what doesn't work. Thankfully, pastels are more forgiving than say, watercolors. With pastels you can brush away mistakes and work over them."

 

      Last year Denise met Jo Harrison, owner of the Harrison Gallery in Williamstown, Massachusetts, who arranged to have Denise's paintings exhibited in the Tunnel City Cafe where the Gallery sometimes displays works of new artists. Of the twelve paintings shown, eight of them sold. Now Denise's paintings are on exhibition on the larger stage of the Harrison Gallery.

 

      Denise grew up in Rochester, New York, but has lived most of her adult life in New England. In October 2006, she moved to Pownal, Vermont, where she lives with her partner and two dogs and three cats. She paints in a small spare bedroom that she says is cold and drafty but has great light. When she's not painting, Denise works at Home Depot in Bennington where, among other responsibilities, she's in charge of the paint department.

 

      Denise is pleased to point out that her painting has caused her life to blossom in many ways. On her website,  KimDenise.com, she features a quote by Monet that she says sums up her present condition: "Thanks to my work, everything is going well."