Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Sooter.
Kelly, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
There is a deeply embedded theme in my work – your journey will lead you home – to that place where you want to be. To some, it’s a place of peace, a state of healing or away from the daily grind or turmoil to an idyllic place at the end of the path where the sun is warm and breezes flow. My early family life was filled with both joy and deep struggles – which has greatly affected my art – every brush stroke. So yes, each painting is my own personal journey to find that place of peace, hope and unending beauty.
Imagine a 5-year-old girl sitting beside a bookcase looking at a book filled with black & white photos of the American landscape. And now I’ve dated myself… Yes, that was me. I devoured every photo, especially those with rivers or paths. Every year I’d stay awake in the car on a drive to the ocean or from the freezing cold apple orchard in the fall just to see my favorite fields. Yes, as a child and early teen I would say “goodbye” to the ocean landscape before getting in the car to drive across the state back home. I never told anyone I did these things because I thought they would laugh at me.
I loved tagging along with my mom to her friends’ homes so I could see the beautiful oil paintings or Nordic folk art. I remember like it’s yesterday sitting in Mrs. Peterson’s home eating her fabulous cookies and staring at the art she had squirreled away everywhere and deciding at age 8 that I would be an artist someday.
Because there were no college programs that taught traditional genres – including composition and color theory, I put off until my early 20’s seriously studying art. My first lessons were with a Norwegian Master who taught me color theory and brush stroke control. Together with 4 other artists we painted 100 panels for a large church renovation. From my studies with Bjorg Kleivi I began studies with Slava Letkov – Master artist from Zhostovo, Russia and his understudy Misha Lebedev. Study in Palekh & iconography continued with Sergi Terentiev. Years of study under these European Masters taught me almost everything I know – including that “light comes from darkness” – a theme that emerges in every work of art I create – as there’s joy in the midst of great strife.
The skills I’ve gleaned from my studies have translated directly into my landscape work. Rules are rules no matter what your subject is! Even great abstract paintings have great composition and design. I developed my landscapes by extensive travel throughout the west – including plein air trips throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona. Painting the desert is vastly different than painting the wild mountains of the Pacific NW – but that keeps me growing every single day!
I now reside and have studios in both Washington State and in Southern Utah – just 200 yards from the Arizona border. Both places are heaven on earth – but I have to say that UT is “home” for me. Its wild, untamed land and endless sky surrounds me there – constantly calling my car to veer off-road to photograph, sketch and paint the jaw dropping beauty around me. So, each painting I create comes from a place of emotion – present or past, northern or southern – hopefully touching a chord in in the viewer as it has touched in me. I want to help someone envision their own life as a journey to that place where they want to be.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I could write a War And Peace sized novel about the bumpy road I’ve traveled to become a professional artist. In fact, the words “ART” and “CHALLENGES” go hand in hand. Whether you are an artist or not, I hope you can learn from my experiences!
My biggest challenge as an artist hit me like a brick out of nowhere. Three years ago, I developed breast cancer. Turns out, I have the BRCA2 gene. Chemo lasted two and a half years and it has taken a year of daily workouts to get just half of my strength back. I’ve literally have to fight for every minute of studio time and I’m grateful for every minute I’ve had there. So how did I keep growing and learning and selling art during those chemo/recovery years? I developed goals and a plan to reach those goals.
Plus, during my recovery, whether I felt like it or not, I visited national parks & monuments scoured for fresh photos to create paintings from. I sketched and sketched and then sketched some more. I did value studies. I studied every book, image and writing I could find of my hero Maynard Dixon who painted the SW in the late 1800’s – mid 1900’s. I did studies of his paintings. I went to an exhibit of his work despite barely having the energy to walk around it. I focused on potential exhibits I wanted to do 4-5 years out and I sought and received permission from a Native American tribe to photograph and do plein air studies on sacred land that will become a future exhibit. I also started an intense online study course with Scott Christensen – another one of my heros. Both Dixon and Christensen create what I believe to be the most authentic art seen today. To top it off, I have an amazing gallery that sells my art faster than I can create it. Thank you DeZion Gallery in Springdale UT! I’m doing great by the way and looking forward to many decades of creating.
The second hardest challenge was finding my own unique artistic style/vision. How? By clearly defining both why I love to paint and what I love to paint. Without vision, subjects I paint would be way too scattered and diverse. Plus, I would be at the mercy of galleries and other artists telling me what to paint and what color to paint it with! Yes, there’s been tremendous pressure to do both! When I learned that I should only paint what makes my heart sing, my artistic voice came out of hiding and it became clear to everyone who sees my work. It’s what sets me apart from every other artist on the planet. When I get away from this vision, I’m lost. However, when I paint from passion, my work stands apart from the crowd and collectors seek me out.
Discipline is the third hardest challenge. Yes, painting those first 10,000 brushstrokes is critical to becoming proficient. I’m now working on my 50,000th plus brushstrokes. That means I’m in the studio every chance I get. When I’m not painting (of golfing…), I’m sketching what I see. Yes, I bring my sketchbook out golfing…
I’ve also had to sacrifice to get my toosh to study with teachers who could help me learn targeted goals. For example, when my sons were little, I found a way to fly 1500 miles to the heart of Texas just to learn how to paint atmosphere. That takes discipline. In fact, I’m committed to life-long learning. I’m always studying art books and images to understand composition, design, color, use of tone, and value. Learning will never end until the day I die.
Fourth, it takes a boatload of focus and discipline to paint for a group or solo exhibit. That means taking hundreds of photos, choosing potential images, editing them, sketching them, ordering the correct sized canvas, painting the image, and then ordering framing. People don’t realize the time it takes to frame a piece! There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that artists do just to get one painting on a gallery wall and yes, that takes discipline.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve had to spend endless hours figuring out how to price my work!!! That’s the million-dollar question! There are hundreds of methods – most of which were either too simplistic or just didn’t make sense to me. After 30 years of selling art – here’s how I derive my pricing in very simple terms. It has served me well.
- I research the pricing structures of artists of similar skill, genre, and gallery type in your region. Yes, that means getting out your calculator. If you are in an art gallery – have your pricing in the middle of the pack. Don’t be the least expensive artist or the most expensive artist. If your quality/skill level is higher than most, move your prices up closer to the most expensive artist showing there.
- Increase your prices about 10% every year – more if you are selling faster than you can paint – which is the wonderful dilemma I am currently in.
- Know what kind/level of gallery you are in. Here’s my way of describing gallery differences. “A Galleries” have top national and regional artists who charge the highest prices for their paintings. “B Galleries” have highly skilled artists who create quality work but aren’t known nationally. “C Galleries” are generally Co-Op galleries or galleries who have a product mix of both original art (usually artists starting out) and crafts, scarfs, hand-made coffee mugs, etc. I also looked at pricing at galleries in high-end tourist areas or areas with a great deal of wealth and stay about 30% under their prices.
- Do not use a price per square inch model unless you paint primarily on smaller canvases – about 16×20 or smaller. This model doesn’t work for artists who paint both small and larger works (say 36×36). Why? Say if you charge $5.00/square inch, an 8×10 will be priced at $400 (reasonable). However, if you use that same $5 per square inch for a 36×36, the painting will be $6480. That’s because price per square inch makes the price increase exponentially. So, I have to charge less per square inch for larger works.
- Fair or not – realize that oil paintings will usually command more money per square inch than other mediums. I wish I knew why. It doesn’t seem fair!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
St. George, UT is Heaven on earth for an artist. Plus, I can go 70mph through downtown during rush hour! This town use to be the center of the art world with major Oil Painters of America and American Impressionist Society regional exhibits. Plus, there were three galleries (owned by the same person) just steps away from each other that had walls filled with the best artists in America today. Sadly, these fabulous galleries closed and moved to Montana – a great move for the galleries but a super bummer for artists like me who love to visit and study great works of art live.
Now there is no major gallery in the area showing award-winning artists. Smaller galleries have become scarce. Right now, there’s only one single gallery showing award-winning landscape art between Las Vegas, NV, and Salt Lake City.
Pricing:
- Oil on oil-primed canvas 10×10 $850
- Oil on oil-primed canvas 12×24 $2100
- Oil on oil-primed canvas $3400
Contact Info:
- Website: www.KellySooter.com
- Instagram: kellysooterfineart
- Other: www.deziongallery.com
Image Credits
Erica Sooter
