Meet Kimberlee Maselli

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberlee Maselli.

Hi Kimberlee, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I thought I wanted to be a painter in high school, but the idea of painting for days on end in a lonely studio didn’t appeal to me. I wanted action, excitement, creative challenges, and people. So I pursued a design degree, including painting, psychology, and business classes. It was the perfect blend. I was excited to get out and make my mark in the advertising world in Boston or Manhattan. I wanted to use my creativity and talents to make a decent living until I realized I couldn’t afford to live there as an entry-level designer unless I wanted to share a tiny space with four other roommates. So back to school, I went. During undergrad, I did side hustles painting murals and pet portraits. While pursuing my Masters’s in Technical Communication, my freelance work relied more on the computer, drawing wordless illustrations for setting up computers, drafting engine illustrations and writing how-to docs for Boeing, and designing posters, book covers, and CDs. After grad school, I was offered a full-time position at IBM, and somewhere along the way, I realized I had traded my paintbrush for a stylus and mouse, and most of my creative work had turned digital. There’s no denying that digital art is creative, but there is nothing like a brush in your hand, experimenting with puddles of color and splashing bold marks on paper or canvas. I joined a Plein air painters group to escape the computer and windowless office environment. Living in Hudson Valley, NY, I followed in the footsteps of artists who had walked these paths and painted these lush valleys for decades. It was magical. Painting in nature is medicine for your soul. Capturing the scene in real-time is a challenge, but if it doesn’t turn out, it’s still a fulfilling way to spend an afternoon amongst the singing birds and roaring brooks.

IBM transferred me from Kingston, NY, to Research Triangle Park, NC, where I continued to paint and exhibit throughout North Carolina: Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, Southern Pines, Asheville, Greensboro, Beaufort, and Wilmington, to name a few fabulous cities and small towns. I served as a board member and exhibit coordinator of the Fine Arts League of Cary for ten years. During that time, I created, along with six other artists, PAINT NC, a North Carolina Plein air group that became well known for discovering great places to paint and providing annual exhibits featuring works painted in these locations throughout the state. It was a joy to help new artists learn the ins and outs of exhibiting, pricing, and putting themselves out there.

After my youngest daughter was born, I switched to working part-time at IBM and filled the rest of my time with family, art, and community. Working closely with other artists inspired me to begin offering workshops and retreats. It is the perfect balance for me. I’m surrounded by technical, intelligent, and creative people at IBM, whose work is innovative and always changing. But nothing beats exploring the wild with my fellow creatives, bug spray, and pochade box in hand, or ripping the plastic off a new canvas to dig deep and tackle a new design.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a smooth road?
I enjoy painting landscapes, florals, and figures, which involves observing and creating a recognizable impression of my subject. I add my style to it by experimenting with color, brushstrokes, and edges to create a good design. Abstracts, on the other hand, come from looking inward. Putting marks on the canvas and responding to them, letting thoughts come and go. It’s a form of meditation as I inch forward toward an appealing combination of shapes and marks. They’re not always pretty. Art often goes through what we call an ‘ugly phase.’ And sometimes, it takes hours and days, back and forth to the easel, to capture that elusive final design. Sometimes I want nothing more than to toss it aside, tear open a new canvas, and start again. But tied deeply within the painting is trust. Trust that I can create something from nothing, that I have something to say, that I have something beautiful to share and that I have been given these gifts to teach or share my work for others to enjoy. Faith is my mantra when I get stuck or want to push a painting aside. Have Faith. You got this. Keep going; stop overanalyzing. Feel the energy you’re creating, and notice the small parts working. Keep moving forward. For some of the most beautiful abstracts I’ve done, I was just about ready to toss in the ugly pile, but a tiny voice in my head whispered – have Faith – and I stopped judging and kept moving. It’s amazing how some of those ‘ugly’ layers create the most beautiful transparent marks or delicious textures in a final piece. Just as with life, we must keep moving forward, take the good with the bad and do the best we can with what we have.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Many of my paintings are in hospitals, and as an intuitive and energy healer, I consider healing while painting. I give energy to my canvases and hope that looking at the colors or shapes will positively affect viewers. Color has energy, and so do shapes. Imagine a dark painting with large, dominating shapes. It would feel menacing and intimidating. I use color and shape to create light, airy, and inviting images. Works that tempt you to look deeper within and escape for a moment. Like a scent can bring up memories of a childhood friend or lover, colors and design can evoke immediate feelings of peace and reflection. You can escape into overlapping swirls with abstract paintings, rest in the quiet areas, delight in a particular shade of purple, or follow an interesting mark meandering across the canvas. Remember when you were little and would see images in the clouds of dinosaurs, butterflies, or a giant castle in the sky? And following your imagination and seeing where it leads?

It’s not much different from creating abstract paintings. A blank canvas is like an overcast sky, and things appear as you begin stroking on paint. Your imagination takes over. You keep painting while your imagination creates stories about what you see and guides you. The process involves listening to your intuition and opening your heart to possibilities. And if you don’t like the story you’re telling, you can change it. Like the Instagram reels where they snap their fingers for an instant makeover – you can take an overcast sky and turn it into a sunny Carolina day. You are the creator, and you are working with the creator. Sometimes you get lost in the clouds and keep pushing until you’ve run out of steam or realize you’ve created a thunderstorm of mud and need to step away. It’s both exhilarating and exhausting. A good tired, though, where you’re grateful for showing up, having faith, and pouring your heart onto the canvas at the end of the day.

Kimberlee has published 4 books, online instruction workshops, and videos and is represented by several galleries. This fall, she will be inducted into The National Association of Women Artists at the National Arts Club in New York City.

Pricing:

• Ranges from $300.-5,000.

Contact Info:

• Website: KimberleeMaselli.com
• Instagram: KimMaselliArt
• Facebook: Kim Maselli Fine Art