Kim Rody: Act 2
From Insurance Exec to Artist Extraordinaire Capturing the Bahamian Seascape

On a recent Wednesday with the sun shining so brightly you almost needed sunscreen to drive, Kim Rody raced halfway across Florida in her Mini Cooper, packing in the miles. By mid-morning she had zipped to Miami from her Stuart home 90 miles away, picked up art work from the printer, lines up the next job, hopped over to Dania Beach, dropped off five large pieces with a yacht interior designer, sent off work to Atlanta, another 15 pieces to Hope Town, Abaco and was off to the west coast.

In between, she ran into Bass Pro Shops, bought two outriggers and conducted an interview by cellphone.

Welcome to the world of Kim Rody, artist extraordinaire who is bringing the seascape of The Bahamas to life. This is Act II for Rody, five years after she left the frenetic pace and daily grind of the business world behind to enter that most creative, and some would say nonplussed world, of art. It only takes a nano-nanosecond to realize that Rody brought the same energy with her to her new life that allowed hwer to rise so quickly in her former existence.

I had my own State Farm insurance agency, had staff," she said, acknowledging she was following the expected path. "I was raised to go to school, go to college, make good grades, make a lot of money. I did that and I made a lot of money."

So much money, in fact, that she was able to indulge her dual healthy hobbies of painting and SCUBA diving.

"I had started taking painting lessons when I was still in high school, but while I loved it, I was always struggling," Rody says. Landscapes came out stiff, still life too - still. Her insurance agency was in Dallas and she was working with an art instructor there who advised her to work on a series. But a series on what?

Her answer came suddenly and unexpectedly.

"In 1995, I painted a fire goby. I can remember the very day because it appeared on the canvas as if it had painted itself," she said. The series began to emerge and so did the artist-diver. "It was so natural because there is so much life underwater, so much vitality." It's easy to see how Rody identified with marine life, especially the colourful fire goby, petite and packed with energy, darting in and out of reefs, constantly moving, roving, searching, finding.

A certified dive master, Rody began spending all her spare time in the water, returning to her native Florida as often as possible, flying to the Bahamas. The reef became her second home. Back in Dallas, she spent endless hours at the aquarium, recording the movement of marine life on sketch pads.

Her work grew in volume and size, but whether reduced to a note card or the size of a mural, like her 7-foot sea turtles, it had the Rody touch - acrylics, splashy yet with great attention to detail, vibrant, full of motion, painted in brilliant colours. Marine impressionism, as if you could see the water passing over the gills and scales of the fish.

By the year 2000, she sold her agency, moved back to Florida and took up painting full time. To say she's never looked back is an understatement. Commissions came readily, so did awards. "I've had great offers and commissions like one with an all-expense paid trip to Italy,” she said. "They got a painting. I got two weeks in a villa in Florence. How great is that?" Not a day goes by that her work is not on exhibit somewhere between Florida and The Bahamas. In 2004, a piece called Sailfish was chosen as the image of the Stuart ArtsFest which draws more than 150 artists from all over. The image appeared on posters, fliers, hats, ties, cups and t-shirts.

Rody calls herself 'fishartista', also the name of her website. She says the longer she spends studying fish, the more soul she finds in her subjects.

Directly from her website: "I try to capture the personality of each model I paint. Each of these creatures has a life and story of their own. I recall one hunting trip where I was about 80 feet down and came face-to-face with a beautiful 20-pound grouper. My Hawaiian sling was cocked, aimed directly at the victim, when that grouper made eye contact with me... I could not take him out of his heaven at that moment. This is the very feeling I want to convey to the viewers of my art; the soul of the individual sea creature as well as the surrounding peaceful environment where he is lucky enough to live out his entire life. I wish I lived down there."

Today Rody clicks away with a digital camera instead of drawing on a sketch pad.

"This weekend when I was at Atlantis, I took about 600 photographs," she said. "They will probably turn into 12 paintings over a period of time." What she captures on digital gets stored in her visual memory and she mulls it over without pressing herself for time. A few days ago, she began painting a red snapper she had been thinking about for three months.

Painting takes longer than selling. Her work is snapped up almost faster than she can replenish it in places like Hope Town Harbour Lodge, the Mermaid's Purse and Java cafe, all in Abaco, and Island Made Gift Shop in Eleuthera or at any of the other dozen or so galleries in South Florida.

Inspiration is never far away. "I go to the Bahamas and people say, 'Oh, you must have so much fun, it must be so relaxing.' Hah! I'm busy every second."

At 46, Kim Rody is at a very special place in her life. She paints at night mostly, in the studio off her cottage in Stuart, Florida, choosing the colours of her palette by day, then working almost in total darkness, trusting her way. It's that feeling process that leads to the sense of motion, she says, the contrast and complementing of colours up against each other.

"I've been told, 'You paint like a man.' I don't know what that means but I know that the more I study fish and try to portray them, the more I realize how interrelated they are so more and more of my work is about groups or schools of fish, less of it just one fish."

Rody has been able to make a success o her one-time hobby.

"I think being in business for 20 years really helped," she said. "If you do art for a living, it's a business. You have to know how to watch expenses, overheads, your margins. A lot of artists don't have that experience. If I walk into a gift shop to sell note cards and they don't want them, it doesn't bother me. I used to sell life insurance."

Few artists can say that - and fewer success stories can say they feel about their jobs how Rody feels about hers:

"I can't believe my life turned out this way. I feel like I'm on a dreamway, living my dream. Every day is a Saturday for me. I like to paint on Saturdays."