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WORD FROM KIM RODY
I first picked up a paintbrush as a high school student,
where I took painting classes after school at the community college in
Miami and from private instructors. Ive taken instruction over the
years because I love working with paint on canvas, but have always struggled
over the landscapes and still lifes for months and months for each piece.
Until I painted my first fish.
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BEFORE: Insurance Agent |
AFTER: Artist |
It was a fire goby, painted in 1995, which appeared on
the canvas without effort all by itself. Then, a damsel. It practically
jumped off the canvas. But I returned to the tedious landscapes, which
were going nowhere. At the time, I was taking instruction from Kathy Windrow
in Dallas, who wanted me to concentrate on a series in my work.
"Orion" 31 foot Tiara... Kim's digs in Hope Town during the winter. |
I decided to pursue painting fish, starting with small
works on paper with acrylic, and, over a few years, working up to large,
seven-foot canvases of sea turtles. For models, I take field trips to
the local Dallas Aquariums, photograph my catch from spear fishing trips
in Florida and the Caribbean, and scrounge deceased fish specimens from
local fish stores, which they save for me in their freezers. Sometimes
I buy whole fish from the local supermarket and stink up the studio for
a few days while I paint them
dead fish are very good at keeping
their pose.
It
is a true joy to bring life to these sea creatures. They have wonderful
colors and textures that translate well with acrylics. There is an incredible
amount of detail and beauty when you look closely at a fish. As a matter
of fact, my fisherman father is now hooked on examining his catch and
noticing the fine art that exists in the scales, eyes and body of the
fish he spears and hooks.
I try to capture the personality of each model I paint.
Each of these creatures has a life, and a story of their own. I recall
one hunting trip where I was about eighty 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 suffered a complete case of buck fever, and allowed
my dinner to swim peaceably away while my father was frantically signaling
toward the fish thinking I had not seen him. I HAD seen him, but he connected
with me and 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.
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