Based in Co Cavan, Kim creates oil paintings inspired by Ireland’s wildlife, folklore and landscape …
Art has been a passion of mine since childhood. I loved drawing, painting and working with clay as a child, and my parents always encouraged and supported my love of art. I used to spend hours sketching and my earliest memory of drawing was sketching a doll my mother made for me. I feel like art was a constant throughout my life and I had brilliant art teachers in secondary school.
I didn’t train formally in art. I studied Psychology in UCD and then went on to do a Masters in Occupational Therapy. I’ve worked as an OT since 2008, part-time and then I paint the rest of the week. My art career began when my youngest child was born in 2017. While loving motherhood, I felt like I’d reached a stage of my life where I’d lost a little of my own identity. I took lessons in oil painting, a medium that I hadn’t used before, and fell in love with it. I began filling my own home with wildlife paintings and soon took on commissions. In 2021, I set up my business and it’s continuing to thrive! I’m a firm believer that, when you put love into something, it always works out.
I work from home in my studio. It’s my absolute sanctuary. I work mainly from photographs, though I also love painting en plein air. My favourite time of the day to work is the morning. I drop the kids to school, grab a coffee, pop on a podcast and my dog George sits at the door. I get totally lost in time out in my studio.
I’m always drawn back to painting wildlife. I just feel a real connection with it. I love living in the countryside, trying to capture the beauty and mystery of these animals that share the same space as us, but we rarely get to see. For me, the eyes are the most important. I often try to capture a lone animal such as a stag, fox or hare coming out of the darkness, looking at the viewer.
My new collection launches in August and will be exhibited at my stand at the Dublin Horse Show, which will be my fourth year at the show. I sell all of my work online, so the Horse Show is the most fantastic opportunity to meet people and talk about my art in person. My new collection’s statement piece is Croi na Coille, the heart of the forest. I live near Deerpark Forest in Virginia, so this is a personal piece. I’ve painted some of this new collection in a custom-made window-shaped canvas. I love the way art can transform a space and I wanted this collection to be really special. It has an ethereal element that the canvas is a portal or window into another world.
There are two main aspects of my art that I love. The creation and connection of it. I love the creative process. I often have a vision of what I want to paint. I search for photos for reference, look at videos of the animal or subject. Sketch, think and plan. Then when I paint, there’s that magical moment in the painting when you know that it’s going to work out. It’s so special. I also absolutely love hearing from people about what draws them to a piece of my art. It’s often a story, a memory or a special meaning, and it’s an absolute honour to be able to create work that connects with people. I also enjoy taking on commissions. It’s very special to be able to create a piece of art that holds meaning and can be personalised.
