Category: artistic process

Heron

~ Kim Blenkhorn ~ Leave a comment

This was the first bird we saw after moving to the river. These birds are quiet. They are patient and still. They can stay in one spot without moving for long stretches of time. Their stillness hides them. Our human eyes are drawn to movement. Stillness acts as a type of camouflage for these birds. They are tall and somewhat majestic and very proud. They hang out in swampy areas and yet it does not seem to diminish their commanding presence and beauty.

There is a lot I love about this painting, but there are two things I would change. The bird takes up far too much of my canvas and if I would do it over I would make it less. My style is large but it feels loud and overwhelming. Another change would be the background. The reason I chose burnt orange is becasue I took this photo in the fall the foliage was browns and oranges. I decided to blur the background rather than paint it in detail so the focus was the bird. but again the painting shouts at me , not exactly what I want.

what I love about this painting is the contrast in darks and lights, I like the birch trees he is resting on and the sharp edges of his feathers!

Baby Duck

Featured ~ Kim Blenkhorn ~ Leave a comment

July 2026

One of my favorite things about painting is the process. I typically start out thinking “I wonder how this will go, can I even do this?” But slowly as I am faithful to simply put my brush to canvas, step by step seeing something beautiful emerges. It is simply not beautiful when I begin.

For this baby duck I sketched out a rough image on canvas from a photo I took. What I am mostly concerned about when I sketch is composition. Placement, relationship between the head and the body, the eyes and the beak, are things in the correct and proper place for it to look real and believable. Once my sketch was satisfactory, I used values of burnt Sienna to underpaint the darkest and lightest parts of the painting.

The painting is 90 percent finished. I am pleased with the outcome. Below you will find the process that I photographed. The burnt Sienna underpainting, seems to add a lot of depth and richness to the painting. I used oils and a natural hair brush for this painting.

Why did I choose this baby? I am struck as I watch the baby ducks with their mother. These are just ducks. In the grand scheme of the universe, they are nothing. They are worthless creatures, they are hunting sport, they are dinner on a valentines menu and yet their mothers watch over them as if they were the most valuable and precious gem on the planet. She keeps them separate from the flock to protect them until they are ready to defend themselves. she spreads her wings over them in the evening, and they all gather and huddle beneath her. She always knows where they are. They follow her everywhere closely. She is tender towards them and they are important to her. It amazes me that God has designed life this way with order, with tremendous care and nurture towards the most helpless of all creatures. He provides even for the ducks, how much more will he provide what I need.

Where Beauty Begins

Featured ~ Kim Blenkhorn ~ Leave a comment

As much as we romanticize—and want to believe—that beauty comes solely from light, we are mistaken when we cling to such shallow ideas. In both the art world and my personal life, it is darkness that gives beauty its depth, its mystery, and ultimately allows light to reach its fullest potential.

Is this blasphemy? I don’t believe so. I have no intention of denying the power, purity, or exquisite nature of light. Rather, I seek to suggest something deeper: beauty requires balance. Light and dark are not enemies. And more often than not, beauty begins in darkness.

This truth is not only artistic—it is sacred. In the beginning, the earth was formless and full of darkness, and God brought forth the light. He did not erase the darkness; He infused it with light. He preserved what was necessary for the world to exist in fullness. Darkness was not a flaw to be corrected, but a foundation to be transformed. 

The same is true in art.

Darkness gives form to light. Shadow creates dimension. Contrast reveals truth. Without darkness, light has nothing to speak against—and nothing to illuminate.

Artist Tip: When painting, begin with your darkest colors and shapes. Let them establish the structure and emotional weight of the piece. From there, introduce light intentionally. This approach creates richer depth, stronger dimension, and a more honest visual story. Your final work will feel grounded, alive, and true.  

Pressure

~ Kim Blenkhorn ~ Leave a comment

There’s not a piece of artwork on the planet that was not made without the application of pressure and darkness; neither is there a man who exists or ever existed of good moral character without the same application of pressure and darkness.

I greatly enjoy sitting in my art studio, which is really a mere spare bedroom, I take pleasure in gazing upon the many works of art which surround my humble studio. Pencil Portraits decorate the walls, framed , unframed, men, women, well known, some lesser known, black and white faces, paintings, canvases, brushes, paints and easels; these are my company and I have become familiar and attached. As an artist I know my artwork. I know it intimately, I have to know it well to know what it needs. Every artist understands this. I look at it, and I go back to it, and I turn off the light and leave for perhaps I believe myself finished for the evening, but then I turn the light on again for one more look. Before I leave my house I run upstairs to glance one more time, as I cannot pass by without peeking in from a different angle or distance. Why? I don’t know. perhaps I will catch a little more knowledge of the thing. The faces I have drawn somehow strangely have become my faces, my people. My artwork. I have looked at them so often I feel I know them. it occurred to me one morning as I sat sipping hot cup of coffee in my leather chair staring at all the art surrounding me feeling sort of melancholy, that the painting I was working on was bland it needed something deep and contrasting. I looked around at my favorite pictures and saw yes in fact it is this heavy value that steals my attentions. Artwork is made great with great pressure, pressure from the pencil and with great darkness; darkness that is added again and again, layer after layer, it actually makes the art, it defines it, brings dimension and interest and even the lightest mark on the canvas is still darkness on a light surface. It is this dance of darkness which excites my interest; how it is applied, used and played with on the paper that creates unique and beautiful images. In fact what intoxicates me as an artist is this contrast of light and dark on blank white paper. it is what draws me in to keep looking; the variation in values, the depth which strikes a chord within my soul. In some strange way it is the darkness applied with the greatest pressure which brings life and completion to any portrait I bring forth.

The difficulties in our lives can be understood as dark lines applied with pressure used to define us, make us what we are and who we are to be. It is the darkness and the pressure applied which truly fashions man on the backdrop of God’s kingdom of light. Without it we simply would exist. It brings me comfort to know that.