Paying attention to what's outside, beyond walls, fences and myths of the modern world, my painting process inspires me to become more aware, attuned and present. I get excited noticing plant and animal relationships in nature - the close-up details, color combinations and plays of light and shadow. The presence of nature offers clarity. It can even bring me to tears by how cute a plant can bounce in the wind. Nature tells us who we are and asks us to take these gems we've found inside ourselves to share with the world. Each person has the capacity to find different gems. As an artist, there's solidarity in the expressions of how animals and land communicate requiring a sensitivity to hear them. Someone once said that looking at an animal in one of my paintings was like looking at a long-time friend. My art creates a world where animals are reflections of our inner landscape and intimate friends. Nature offers solitude and quiet; a place where you can reset and ground and the loudness and chaos of the world quiets.

Illustrating wildlife and the wilderness of the High Desert of New Mexico, Kat Kinnick works to inspire a culture of connectedness to nature. She's inspired by the magic and inexplicable qualities of childhood and is drawn towards expressing playfulness and curiosity with a folk art  / fine art inspired aesthetic. Her work is a celebration of the unique ecology in New Mexico and its abundant diversity. Kat mainly works as a painter, illustrator, printmaker and ceramicist. Born in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM, her parents, both of whom had backgrounds in craft & design, ran their own business restoring and appraising Navajo rugs. She received a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture with a concentration in Sustainability & Social Practice at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland. She currently lives near Lone Butte and the Cerrillos Mountains, south of Santa Fe. 

photo by Brandon Soder