Kevin Kelly

05/27/2026

I've been reading .pollan's excellent book about the rather new science of consciousness "A World Appears." So many thought provoking passages and questions- Do plants have consciousness (I am convinced they do)? What role do feelings play in consciousness? What other cells, besides neurons, engage in consciousness? Books and questions like these are excellent studio companions while working through complicated layers of a painting.
(Bonus shots of my studio garden and garden assistant)
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"With Ghosts, There is Always Room for One More"
colored paper pulp on felt
52"x38"

05/24/2026

Another drawing from collage- blending direct observations with photo references with necessary inventions.

I puzzle over being a studio artist a lot. Is it authentic? The impulse to draw and paint comes naturally enough, and I love working plein air. I love the direct negotiations I have to make, discovering my own biases, limits, and struggling towards believability with a subject. But I am also a slow processor, mulling over observations for weeks (or more) at a time. And I love creating complications, inviting different elements and even time frames to mingle and bump up against each other. So, mixing varied ingredients over many work sessions in the studio seems to make more sense for right now.
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"I'm Sorry That You Feel That Way"
egg tempera and grease pencil on vellum
36"x24"

05/03/2026

Further adventures with paper pulp.
So much of painting, it seems, is seeking out the correct level of resistance- finding a current that pushes back on you but will also reveal new currents available to you. This has to do with ideas/images, and formal concerns, but my usual inclination is to lean in first with process and material. I want to hack old systems. I want to see what I can get away with. I want to bump up against limits. I want to see things come together and fall apart in the same composition. Shout out to my daughter for being a good sport in this experiment.

"Anthropology"
colored paper pulp on felt
54"x32"
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04/27/2026

In working on these drawings, I've been trying to find balance between the tangible and the intangible, thinking about transition and memory and observation all having a voice. Of course,  drawing is a great way to peel back layers to a more naked minimum, forcing those layers to have to stand up or flop.

"Assumption"
egg tempera and grease pencil on vellum
36"x24"
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04/12/2026

A short poem
colored paper pulp on felt
24"x18"
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🖕❄️

04/07/2026

I have a great love for drawing as a practice, but I have often wondered about presenting drawings as stand-alone objects- for myself. I love the directness that can be present in a drawing, especially when it does not hide behind technique, when it centers on exploration and responsiveness to a subject. I have been experimenting with monochromatic materials, trying to get away from the heaviness of black and grey. Working monochromatically is also away for me to avoid drifting into full painting, especially as I like to draw with wet media. Anyway, these drawings have been based on quick photo collages that I sometimes make at my desk when I need to clear my logical brain with the simplest of hands-on activities.
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"With Ghosts, There is Always Room for One More"
grease pencil, egg tempera, gesso on paper
30"x 22"

03/27/2026

Did you ever make god's eyes when you were a kid? Two popsicle sticks glued into a plus sign, with yarn weaving around in a radiating pattern? I can't remember exactly when and where I would have learned to do this, probably the super nice neighborhood mom who was always keeping kids busy with hands on activities. We certainty didn't learn about the indigenous traditions attached to these objects. It was all about the wonder of learning to manipulate ordinary materials until something mesmerizing appeared. I have been thinking about this kind of childlike responsiveness, especially when making color studies for paintings. I try to separate these color studies from the more academic preparory drawings that I make, sketches that are more about solving perspective and proportion problems. The color studies are more free form, searching for relationships, more meditative. These paper pulp paintings are based on the color studies, and also carry that mundane/otherworldly contradiction that I appreciate so much.
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"God's Eye"
colored paper pulp on felt
36"x22"
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03/15/2026

I've been experimenting with paper pulp painting for the last few months, and this is the first piece I've wanted to keep. It is based on some sketches and color studies produced in the painting process. I like the fragility and immediacy of the material, the simplified dialect it imposes. The pulp is a composite of art papers and dried acrylic paint that accumulate in my studio- which is intriguing, as I am always thinking about the composite of what we leave behind. Anyway, the right amount of resistance in a small piece.

"Be Kind"
colored paper pulp mounted to felt
26"x21"
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02/08/2026

Another long painting journey. The John Mack bridge in south Wichita is an architectural treasure- the second longest remaining Marsh Rainbow bridge in the United States. It has been a part of my landscape since I was a kid. That landscape has continued to shift, as south Wichita has fallen further and further behind in investment of resources. Still, I love the contrast of the optimistic, otherworldly 1920's design and the contemporary context that surrounds it now. And I love when a painting journey can grow my capacity for holding contradiction, hope and disappointment, in the same space.
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"Somewhere Over the Under"
acrylic and oil on paper
51"x88"
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🌈

12/31/2025