We were lucky to catch up with Kelly Paige Standard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly Paige, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I am the oldest of two kids, and unfortunately the only one still walking the planet. Mark has been gone 22 plus years, and if my parents still harbor any part of his untimely death as some kind of failure on their part, they’d be supremely wrong. They were–in actuality–the best parents the two of us could have ever imagined. They encouraged our creativity–coaxed it out us from the time our fat, little fists could hold crayons. They showed support when our creative endeavors made us glow hard, and they even shared the energy. I recall getting trips to the zoo in exchange for drawings that went on certain refrigerators.

It would be impossible to sum up all the ways they have always been my biggest cheerleaders and supporters, but I can tell you that Nancy is the kind of woman that came with me to the college counselor to change my major from English to Art, and then defended the switch when questioned why she’d be there to support such a move. All she needed to say was, ‘have you seen her paintings?’…

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

My name is Kelly Paige Standard and I’m a local native born here in 1973. I’ve been a creative as far back as I can remember, and I’ve had a particular love of portraiture that probably blossomed right around the time a gal had crushes on dudes way out of her league. LOL.
Also–I was raised in a house that had a pretty narrow and specific definition of beauty, but I found beauty everywhere I looked. By rendering and celebrating the beauty of others, I was able to feel part of something I’d never be able to experience on my own. From a super young age I recognized this particular reason for my incessant drawing.

I grew up with my folks owning their own business–mixing, matching color, and selling commercial printing ink. My dad had an incredible gift for matching color by eye alone (loop). His oldest sister, Lela, taught my mom to paint and when it was time, she got me started in oils too. By 9 years old, I was painting with turpentine like the masters. (haha…that was supposed to be funny. lol.. most parents haven’t been keen on their kids using turpentine).

My first real portrait was in black and white and was very timid as far as paint-usage, but it’s definitely accurate. My first color study was the face of Linus Pauling. I have both pieces in my possession. Artists often keep their favorites; they’re inspiring to have around.

To expand a bit more from the former interview question, Jim and Nancy Standard made sure I was well-rounded; I was a decent enough athlete to have played two years of Div I soccer at UCI before injury won and I hung up the cleats. Transferring to a UC more geared toward traditional arts like painting, I left Orange County and its smog alerts, and finished up my BA at UCSB.

Straight out of college, I helped run my aunt’s gallery downtown in the Gaslamp Quarter, Robson Gallery. It was there that I learned –and executed– the business side of the gallery workings.

At one of my life’s first curve-balls, I found myself carving out a more lucrative career path in the video game industry. For seven years I had an incredible time finagling software (3D Studio Max) and photoshop paintings into amazing environments, creating gorgeous visual experiences for games such as Myst III; Exile (pc) and Whacked (Xbox). I looooved that it was a job. Unfortunately, that company eventually closed, and thus began my gradual shift into the life of a full-time artist.

After by little brother died (at age 23, I was 28), I decided that I wanted to work in an area of art that had more true emotion and healing built into it than video games did for me. (I didn’t even play video games as a kid). Shortly before losing Mark, I’d reconnected with my senior year hs boyfriend, and realized then that the human heart is capable of holding whole worlds of emotion, even when said worlds are polar opposites. In the uncertainty of the time, I opted to jump in with both feet.

Being a portrait artist often supports the selling of one’s own (sometimes more artful) body-of-work pieces. I have a sale-history that spans more than 20 years, and even through the horrors and consequences of 9/11 and now Covid, haven’t yet raised my commission prices. People portraiture starts at $1500 and goes up with extra detail, and animals are usually around $850. (I wouldn’t charge the same amount for the side profile of a black cat as I have to charge for a muscular dog with a brindled pattern, if that makes any sense)…

I have consistently priced my work by detail and size, rather than just size alone, and I almost always can work under a ceiling price in someone’s art budget. I’ve accepted payment plans, and have worked on trade, all the while kind of building a family out of my clients.

I am an originals only gal. And in the day and age of reproductions and AI and all things strangely unreal, I’m not exactly loved for it.

I DON’T make reproductions of my work because I believe that art has the energy of the artist in it, and that a picture of me (even life size) isn’t remotely me. I do as much as I can to make fine art accessible to anyone that wants it, but no prints. !

When I am gone from this planet and have sloughed off this mortal coil—print away!!!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Reputation is paramount in building a business. I’ve practiced my craft for decades, I’m super easy to work with, I keep my word, and I always deliver accurate and beautiful work that I’ve done to the very best of my ability. I’m also a deep well of human emotion; empathy is easy for me. Easing the hearts of those that hurt like I have, I’m pretty determined to wrangle the light and the shadow, the color and the mood, to grab the essence of my subjects. When people feel seen and represented in a way that shows them their own beauty, they remember that. I feel fortunate that a lot of my buyers are return customers/clients.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Sometimes world-events change the course of our intended journeys. When I ‘went full-time’, I was warned that I might work for seven years before I’d ever see a profit, but I wasn’t deterred. I’ve always been a hard worker, so I figured I could accomplish profit in fewer than the average seven years— But then 9/11 happened. It changed everything. It wrecked countless lives, and also the local tv/movie industry, paralyzed art-buying for some time.

Most recently Covid joined 9/11 on the list of world events that make people focus on what’s most important.

Thankfully, the art I make falls more into the category of ‘family heirloom’ than it does ‘dorm room poster’. I’ve been trusted to paint over 100 posthumous portraits, both human and animal alike.

_The ability to give someone back to an aching heart this way_ has been the best source of new clients for me. Time marches on, and amazing souls must be commemorated. If an art buyer connects with my work, equally sees me, and buys a painting off the wall– that’s a gift. And if someone connects but doesn’t find the piece that they’re looking for, I can still offer a piece of myself in order to give them just what their souls are searching for. I love the ability to bring other peoples’ ideas and visions to light.

Contact Info:

• Website: kpstandard.biz (currently frozen)
• Instagram: kpstandardart
• Facebook: Kelly Paige Standard