Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kaitlin Kidd. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kaitlin , appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Like everyone who ends up in the creative field, I have always been in the creative realm. As far back as I can remember I have always shown a great interest in art and was put in after-school art classes instead of sports. I first learned to paint with oil paints in one of these classes- my teacher was a french lady who held classes on her patio in the afternoons and I remember those classes fondly. She was the only oil instructor I have ever had and I still use all her feedback and tips and tricks today. I must of been around 8 or 9 when she taught me and her instruction still rings clear.

Even though I had art in school, like most kids, this was my first exposure to seeing it beyond the classroom walls and seeing it as a mode of expression, not just a subject.

As I continued to grow, I continued to develop my love and understanding for art. I was born and raised in South East Asia and the art there deeply impacted me. The use of colors, particularly in their pottery is incredible and I count myself lucky to have grown up with an out of the norm artistic influence that we normally do not get here in the United States. Art museums also had a great impact on me, I am fortunate enough to have travelled extensively by nature of the places we lived and my parents prioritising a world view for us. I have been to many art museums all over the world and have gotten to fall in love with and study so many different wonderful subjects and mediums.

Though I have always been attracted to art and very much have a creative brain, I didn’t know anyone in our circles who had pursued it professionally besides my one teacher when I was young. I didn’t know being an artist was a viable option and didn’t think it would be respected. I went to university and got my degree in Interior design and minor in studio art. I thought Interior Design provided me a way to be creative but still have job security and was a respectable career choice.

I graduated in May 2020, and with the world shut down, so did all of the job openings. I fumbled around for three years trying to get any jobs I could in the design world and working with a variety of people but really feeling dissatisfied with my career choice. It wasn’t creative enough and I just day dreamt all day of what I wanted to be creating instead.

I had my son in 2023 and it was when I realised I couldn’t continue my job anymore once he was born that I finally allowed myself to pursue art. My husband very sweetly was the one who encouraged me to jump all in and fully commit to my craft.

Growing my craft/skill and business while being a new mom has been a journey in itself, but it has been so wonderful to stay home with my baby and do what I have always dreamt of. I never allowed myself to even think I could be an artist because I just didn’t know any one who was. I have really tried to meet and create contacts with artists all over the country to have a community I can ask questions to and encourage one another.

Moral of the story, I believe the longing to be an artist is in a lot of people and I think it is fabricated in us, we just all have a different timeline of when we get back to our childhood dreams. I am lucky I found my way back in my mid-twenties and finally took the leap of faith.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an oil painter and classify my style as modern impressionism. I focus on landscapes and I recreate old film photography that I find at antique stores. I am drawn to anything that I feel like tells a story and is nostalgic and familiar. You will find in my paintings that my landscapes seem familiar and comforting, like you have been there before and played there as a kid. My black and white portraits may not be your family per se, but they are a nostalgic look at the people who came before us and there is a familiarity between them that you can relate to.

I mainly do commission work for individual clients or designers looking for artwork for their clients. I love doing my own collections but only do a handful a year.

Above all, my hope is to create art that makes you feel at peace and connects you to a memory or feeling you may have forgotten about. I want my artwork to become the backdrop to your home. Something you that grounds you when you look at it, but is always there on your walls and becomes part of your family’s story- something your kids will associate you with and becomes the backdrop to so much life that happens.

I hope to remind people to look for little beauty glimmers through life and to keep searching for beauty because it is really all around us.

“The sweetest thing in all my life as been the longing to find the place where all beauty comes from”
-C.S. Lewis

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I had to grow comfortable with my role as a creative. I could not understand why I could not be satisfied with a regular 9-5 job and the thought of creating a career in one gave me so much dread and a couple panic attacks. I didn’t know that not everyone felt that way. I think we all get overwhelmed with the thought of a career in some way or another, but I didn’t know that not everyone knew deep in their gut that it was not the lifestyle for them.

I had to do a lot of soul searching after college when I realised working at a large design company and not having full reign of my creative projects would be completely soul crushing. What did I work so hard for these last four years? I felt like I was failing at what I was “supposed” to be doing. It took a few years, but I finally allowed my self to give into what I was really made for.

What I don’t think non-creatives understand is that creating is not just a choice, we HAVE to create. It is what keeps us sane, motivated, healthy and helps us understand the world. When we are not well, we are not creating. Even is someone is not making art for their main job, they definitely are when they get home. We cannot help it.

As someone who has made my art my job, I am always struggling with the balance of needing to have a profitable business and needing to create what I need to create. I have not gotten to the point as an artist where I can just make a drop of my personal collection and that brings in enough income to sustain me. I have to take on commissions, which is fine because I get to practice my skill and have a wider reach, but some commissions are just not fun to do and sometimes those projects take a lot more effort.

I think art in every form needs to be taught with more respect, particularly in high school because no one knows that it is a viable career option. Though I don’t regret my path, it would have looked a lot different if I had known that it was feasible. There are so many people who wished they had the resources and knowledge to be an artist in any form, but because our culture prioritises left brain careers, we are unable to step into our full potential.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect to being an artist is when people become genuinely touched by my work. I just recently was a vendor at the Silobration (the major event at the Silos in Waco, TX- hosted by Chip and Joanna Gains from Fixer Upper) and that was the largest exposure I have ever had. I had thousands of people in my booth over the three days, but the ones that meant the most were the couple of people who saw a painting and just were overcome by emotion looking at it. They got goosebumps and couldn’t speak because it stirred up something deep inside them that the painting had brought out.

These moments make it all worth it. Art is meant to be an act of beauty and expression, when someone can appreciate that in its fullest form it means the world to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kaitlinkiddart.com/
• Instagram: @kaitlinkiddart
• Facebook: Kaitlinkiddart

Image Credits

All images taken by Kaitlin Kidd or Jolie Leah Photography