5 Things I Like About Kelly’s “Ladies” Series

Earlier this year Kelly bought us crayons. Technically she bought us oil pastels, but they look like crayons to me and it makes me feel like a kid again so I say crayons.

These crayons rule because you can use them to make really fancy looking stuff without a lot of artistic background experience:

Taking some creative coloring time is awesome because it is fun, first and foremost, but also because it begets more good things according to researchers at Drexel University, who found that “visual self-expression” including coloring, doodling, and free drawing “helps with attention and improves health and well-being” … “indicating potential clinical applications of reward perception through art making. Participants improved in their self-perceptions of problem solving and having good ideas.”

Kelly has been drawing lots of things, but mostly she has been making what she calls “my ladies.” For a while Kel was cranking out one of these a day, and it’s such a simple concept that she won’t run out of potential subjects any time soon.

Here are 5 things I like about Kelly’s “Ladies” series:

1. I like how moody they are

The thick texture of the crayons helps create bright colors with intense vibes. Here are some of my favorites in terms of colors and expressions:

2. I like that part of Kel’s process is looking at inspiration

Kel uses graphic design or artistic images she finds on Pinterest or in magazines as a starting point for these drawings, which means that she constantly has her antennae up to collect ideas for future professional design work for Kind & Funny. Also, staring at a blank page can be intimidating from a creative perspective, so practicing with a reference point allows you to get going immediately without worrying too much about what you’re making, taking some of the pressure off and increasing the fun, playful aspect. This has the added bonus of making it fun for me to draw any ridiculous thing I want during these coloring sessions.

3. I like how odd some of them are

Some of the source photos Kel chooses are different than straight portraits, and it’s been fun to have these around:

4. I like that the series started after Kelly worked with a portrait artist

One of the earliest Kind & Funny clients is the Pattern Shop Studio, a local RiNo art gallery that was owned by our friends Rex and Sharon Brown. Sharon is a prolific artist with a gift for portraits, and we’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of paintings of people and faces that she’s produced over the years. About her art, Sharon writes, “The human presence is a constant in my work. Often beginning with old snapshots, candid photos of family and strangers, I try to capture slices of time, evocative moments. I am fascinated by what home photographers inadvertently catch: images that are casual and non-reverential, the subjects captured without their masks on, the scene not lit or staged. The results are situations, faces and places that resonate with viewers, reminding them of the life they really led instead of the stories they created about their pasts.”

I find joy that Kelly has borrowed a bit of this practice from such a special person.

5. I like that it has helped Kel make original art

In between the “Ladies” series are moments of inspiration that produce original works like this, which is influenced by Kelly’s feeling of sometimes being unable to translate all of the wonder and beauty and amazingness going on in her mind into words:

Pretty cool, huh?

Want to come over and color sometime?