Browsing Archive: April, 2020

Paintings from the show...In the Eye of the Beholder

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

In the Eye of the Beholder, 2012

Oil and gold leaf on panel

14” x 18”

I did this piece when I first found out I had the degenerative eye disease called keratoconus.

I was full of fear.

Losing my eyesight had always been one of my great terrors, and now it looked like having serious vision challenges was going to be a part of my life forever.

This painting began a series of works that turned into my first solo show, Beauty in the Eye, which was all about vision loss and eye diseases.

My family...

Paintings from the show....What He Threw Away

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

That's me as a first time bride in 1995.

And that's me, divorced, in 1997 and standing next to the only time I ever showed this painting of my first ex-husband, Doug, until showing it in my solo show, Couch to Canvas.

I called it What He Threw Away.

It was an assignment in class in the style of another artist (Klimt).

I remember when I did this painting I was only a month or so out from my separation from Doug and in the middle of big pain and complete confusion. I now see how this work, even the...

Paintings from the show....Kitty Hawk

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

Kitty Hawk (assemblage version), 2018

Watercolor and paper

24” x 30”

This is a portrait of Nora. Nora is a spitfire of a girl whose personality reached out to me so strongly, that I could feel it over the internet. She stands boldly in her body and I felt it was appropriate to juxtapose her in front of the hill at Kitty Hawk, which holds deep personal meaning for me as a place of bravery and discovery.

It is also an homage to all the brave girls and women who must learn to fly in the conte...

Paintings from the show....Finding Out I'm the Sister-of-Jared (or Tight Like a Dish)

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

Finding Out I’m the Sister-of-Jared (or Tight Like a Dish), 2019

Oil on panel

18” x 36”

Here what it's about.

One day I was lamenting to my therapist about how I didn’t think I could take anymore, go any further; how I was feeling abandoned and broken beyond fixing.

Right in the middle of processing these feelings I had a very forceful memory come to mind of a talk I had listened to months earlier. The talk was When My Prayers Feel Unanswered, which people commonly refer to as the “fo...

Paintings from the show....The Fire Inside Her Burned Brighter

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

The Fire Inside Her Burned Brighter, 1998

Oil on panel

12” x 20”

This is the oldest piece I had hanging in my solo show Couch to Canvas.

In 1997 I had returned to SUU after separating from my first husband to finish my degree in Illustration. Waiting for me there was a new art teacher, Brian Hoover, who was a visual storyteller, and the medium of oil paint which I had not previously explored much. I had originally come to school with the intent of being a teacher, children's book illustrat...

Paintings from the show...The Process of Laying It Down and Picking It Back Up

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

The Process of Laying It Down and Picking It Back Up (assemblage version), 2019

Oil on panel

24” x 30”

This piece started out as a series of small watercolor studies that I did to try and reclaim and heal something.

I knew I was going to do the piece, but I wasn't sure if I would show it to anybody.

One of the scariest (and coolest) things about art is that you can't control what happens in the mind of the viewer after you put it out there. I had a very personal and specific meaning for this...

Post Couch to Canvas Show Musings

Posted by Kirsten Beitler on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : The Art of Painting

The show is not what I originally had planned. I signed up to do it early last fall when I was feeling really good about my life, like I had the energy to execute my vision. I had solid recent works I was proud of and ideas for five new pieces in my head.

Then things got super messy again and I was in survival mode from the end of 2018 through the summer of 2019.

You know what happens when you're in survival mode? Not much. So there I was, two months out and only two of the new works done beyon...

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A Little Introduction...

Kirsten Beitler

I am an, artist, teacher, florist, and single mom of four boys, not necessarily in that order depending on the day! This blog is about things that interest me and. things I can't keep my mouth shut about; art, relationships, friends, kids, teaching, adoption, chickens, divorce, therapy, life...