Kaia Thomas - A path with ART

The underpainting with a mixture of Dioxazine purple  and Transparent Red Oxide .     I love snow...and being from Southeast Arizona, it is not something I often get to enjoy. Sometimes during the holidays we get a short lived snow storm, but not this year (so far). The other day on the phone, my father began telling of the beautiful pristine snow that had fallen over night in his small town of North Powder, OR. I really wanted to see it and asked him to please send some photos. He had been a photographer at one point in his life, and was good with composition, so when he sent the photos, one lept out at me in particular and I was inspired - I had to do a painting! Establishing the darkest darks and lightest lights Adding some color    The finished painting 9" x 12" oil on canvas panel   It was a challenge, but a fun one - it happened to be my first ever snow painting!

"Creek Reflections" 10" x 8" oil on stretched canvas  Starting bid $75 Click Here to see the auction This is a painting of The Gila Box area, near Safford, Arizona. An oasis, and welcome escape from the relentless heat of the summer. Also an endless source of inspiration for the painters spirit. I really loved the way the three trees were casting their reflection on the water in this particular scene. This painting is up for auction on DailyPaintworks.com.

"Hazy Morning Graze" 6" x 8" oil on canvas panel Sold! When I was visiting New Mexico, I had the opportunity to go to a beautiful farm along the High Road near Taos.  There were potential paintings everywhere, and I ended up taking a gazillion reference photos. This particular scene was happening in the early morning. The air was crisp and there was a haze in the distance, making the mountains almost dream like. I loved the way the vegetation and grazing horse were backlit by the morning sun. 

"Colorful Dwellings" 8" x 8" oil on canvas panel Starting bid $50 Click Here for details. Last weekend I took my Mom to Bisbee, Az. for her birthday. She had a great time and got a much needed break. We stayed at The Jonquil motel , a favorite place of mine. They have a really nice back yard area for sitting, with views of one of  Bisbee's appealing qualities, colorful homes and unique architecture. I got inspired to paint one particular scene that had a nice grouping of colorful Bisbee homes. I set up my gear and created this little painting. 

"Spencer Flats" 9" x 12" framed plein air oil on gesso board   Click here to see the auction! Starting bid is $125 So, back in September I attended the Escalante Canyons Plein Air Competition, where I ended up winning the Award of Merit! It was my first time visit to that part of Utah, with it's red rock canyons, and I must say, it did not disappoint! The land was breathtaking and magical, and to get to paint there for the art festival was like icing on the cake. "Spencer Flats", ( scene above ), was one of the many magical spots I got to paint in.  I really loved the complimentary colors that were naturally happening every where I looked. It wasn't hard to find a beautiful spot to paint. What was hard though, was the hurricane force winds that picked up that day, forcing me to seek protection behind the vehicle, where it was blocking the wind a little. All part of the charm of painting en plein air! This painting is up for auctio...

"The Pitcher" 12" x 12" oil on panel Framed Available through 55 Main Gallery 55maingallery@gmail.com After a very long time of telling myself "one day I'm going to do a painting of our bathtub", it finally happened. There is something so pleasing about the earthy colors, and the way the light comes through the window and plays on all the surfaces. The pitcher has been around since I was a little girl, and was the original inspiration to paint the scene because I love it's reflective qualities. 

 "Refreshing Perspective" 9" x 12" oil on gesso board starting bid $125 Sold! Click Here to see the auction.  This painting is up for auction starting December 11, 2013! The auction is through dailypaintworks,com  This painting is in the October 2013 issue of Southwest Art Magazine in the "Art of Arizona" section.

 I am finally starting to sort through copious reference photos I took during my trip to Utah in September. I did this little 6" x 8" study today of some juniper trees that caught my eye in Northern Arizona.  I hope to be doing many more little studies from this magical trip. Stay tuned! "Juniper Trees" 6" x 8" oil on panel  UPDATE! Now up for auction on Daily Paintworks. Click here to see the auction! Starting bid at $50!

 North View with Agave" 8" x 10"  Oil On Stretched Canvas $160   Click Here for details!   I painted this for a facebook challenge put on by a friend just for fun. The challenge was called "Looking out my front door", the only rule being the painting had to be within 50ft of the front door. I painted this view about 5ft from my front door. Plein air magazine actually got wind of what he was doing and did a blog post about it. 

From now until December 16th, you can get 20% off any artwork in my Etsy shop.  Just use the coupon code HOLIDAY13 during checkout.  Here are few of the available paintings you will find for sale! Please visit my Etsy shop and take advantage of this opportunity. Sale ends soon! Click Here to enter the shop.

"Velvet and Leather" 12" x 12" Oil on Canvas     Happening right now at Heather Green Studios is an art exhibit celebrating 3 years in Bisbee, Az., which I am currently participating in. This years theme is Leather, the 3rd traditional anniversary gift.     So, (I asked myself) "What do I do with THAT theme!?" I almost didn't have an entry for the exhibition after some time with no inspiration, BUT, one day, as I was puttin' on my boots, it occured to me that they were leather... aha! An inspiration at last! I don't have a lot of experience with still life painting, and more specifically, painting boots. I love a challenge though:) I not only decided to take on painting a still life of my leather boots, but I decided to use only two colors + white. I chose the complimentary colors of purple and yellow. In the end, I was pleased with the results. My background ended up having the look of velvet, which was not my intention, but I...

Here is the progression of my newly completed painting "Sunflower Medley".  This was a joy to paint - minus the miserable heat wave that had to be endured during it's creation! Enjoy... "Sunflower Medley" 24" x 20" oil on linen $1200 www.kaiathomas.com

"Refreshing Perspective" 9 x 12 oil on gesso hardboard $300  Available through my Etsy Shop Here !       Although it's expected, living in the Arizona desert, for the summers to be brutally hot and often uncomfortable, this summer I found myself wondering how and why I was putting up with this extreme climate. This particular summer seemed, and many others agreed, to be more brutal than most. Although I have a cooler in the studio that manages to keep the temperature livable, when the outside temperature reaches 112, somehow it just never feels cool enough inside. This made painting an enduring challenge for several weeks. I suddenly found myself day dreaming of water...cool, refreshing water... I was inspired! Thus "Refreshing Perspective" was born.    progression of "Refreshing Perspective"      While working on it, I felt that my longing for this setting was so strong that it really imbued the painting. I can...

 Rest Stop Ocotillo - 5 x 7 study in oil   I had no clue when I started a 5 x 7 study of "Rest Stop Ocotillo" that a brand knew style would be born. A style that somewhat resembles icing a cake!     I began the study with a palette knife and although I intended to paint the rest of it with brushes, I used the palette knife all the way to the end, even signed it with the knife!    For the most part, I struggle with being too tight in my work. My paintings often land more on the realistic side and I long to have a looser, more painterly style. In this case, when I started applying paint with the palette knife, something broke loose and that more expressive side suddenly emerged. I was so surprised to see it! I felt a kind of elated freedom and a renewed inspiration! The thick, expressive paint and crazy colors that happened were so exciting!   When I approached the larger canvas version of "Rest Stop Ocotillo", I did not expect to contin...

"Agave Grande" 8 x 10 oil on linen panel $280  www.kaiathomas.com  I decided to set up and do some plein air painting in our front yard. Over the years our cactus garden has really taken off and I am seeing paintings everywhere now! I was really happy with how this one turned out.

To say I was excited that "Power Flower" was selected as a finalist in the American Women Artists Online Competition, would be a definite understatement. To be amongst such amazing talent and to be selected out of over 500 entries! Wow! You can see the slideshow of the finalists on the American Women Artists page .

April 13th, 2013 Taken during my show at 55 Main Gallery in Bisbee, AZ pictured here are gallery owner Cristina Plascencia (left) and myself with the artwork.   I was having one of those insightful moments a few days ago and it lead me to the thought "I should write a post about that!" So here goes...   It came to my attention that I have had this blog for nearly four years now. Of course, there were periods of time where I seemed to endlessly fail to find the time to write a post but I did my best to write when I could and share some important aspects of my journey and artworks I created.   I had pondered in the beginning what to call my blog - I wanted it to be fun and interesting and of course pertain to what I was going to share - thus the play on words  A Path with "Art" was born. It wasn't until recently that this blog name took on a much more profound meaning for me.  At the beginning of October 2012, at a very low point in my lif...

 About three months back, I started painting miniature sunsets in oils. I was doing it as a sort of discipline and exercise at the time but found that it became a passion for me, painting these tiny, concentrated, desert skies. After some time of doing these miniatures, I had the urge to go BIG! I wanted to see how the larger versions would look and would I be able to capture the same potency.  "Brilliance"  24" x 30" oil on canvas Available Here! The first of the larger versions is seen above. I was very happy with how it turned out and thus began my new passion - painting large sunsets! "San Pedro Sunset" 24" x 30" oil on canvas Available Here! "Sky Symphony" 20" x 16" oil on canvas Available Here!