It always seems awkward to write about myself without seeming egotistical. So I’ll begin by answering a question that I often get which is, how do you paint and sell so many ORIGINAL paintings at this price?! The answer to that is easy. I’ve been doing this a long time. Although the My90Acres Etsy shop is new, I’ve been painting and selling this line of fruit and vegetable paintings for twenty-five years. Over time, I’ve developed some efficiencies and have a pretty good idea what my customers like.

I'm also a real stickler for quality. I believe that original artwork should be made to last. Each of these paintings is hand drawn, hand painted, and has a pen and ink overlay. I only use the best materials - 100% cotton rag paper, top watercolor paints (Winsor and Newton), light-fast inks. They're all the same size and matted to 8 x 10 in museum-grade white mats with archival backing. Easy to pop into standard size frames!

But let’s talk about why the fruits and vegies and (soon) flower paintings.

Over thirty years ago, my husband and I decided to leave the corporate world and purchased a small farm in Southern Indiana. This was always a dream of mine so he mostly came along for the ride. If you are not familiar with this part of the country, it is totally beautiful with woods and fields, gently rolling hills, lakes and streams. And not too many people. I like to say it’s like New England without the crowds.

We live in a 150 year old farm house with a large garden, a couple of orchards, and plenty of the aforementioned woods and fields and streams. We raised two sons here and have enjoyed living in a county that doesn’t even have one stoplight…and we’re proud of it.

My studio is the old summer kitchen so my commute is about 30 feet from the back door. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, summer kitchens were popular in the days of wood-fired stoves to keep the heat out of the house…in the summer! They are very common on old homesteads in the midwest and south. And it’s very nice for me to have an area to keep my art separate both physically and mentally from the rest of the house.

The fruit and vegetable line evolved from my many years of traveling to some of the most prestigious art fairs across the country. This was hard work and expensive and I needed a bread and butter item, something guaranteed to at least make back my expenses. But I wanted to stick with original paintings so I created this line of colorful subjects. They have been very popular over the years and I’ve had many repeat customers who eventually became friends. I stopped painting these little gems due to time constraints when I started working at a regional arts center. After seventeen years, I recently left my position where I’d spent the past ten years as director of Jasper Community Arts, a performing and fine arts center.

So, the nuts and bolts of my bio are:
• Taught school in Appalachia right after college
• Worked in the corporate world (Ford Motor Company) for eleven years
• Full-time artist a bunch of years
• Gallery coordinator and Director of fine arts center

Education:
• Graduate of Earlham College, Richmond IN
• Attended Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester MI
• Post-graduate work at Oakland University, Rochester MI
• Various other courses as piqued my interest at Indiana University Southeast and Vincennes University, Jasper Campus

Memberships:
• Signature member, Watercolor Society of Indiana
• Associate member, Oil Painters of America
• Associate member, Hoosier Salon
• Indiana Plein Air Painters
• Brown County Art Guild

Exhibits:
I’ve exhibited my work at shows all over the country. Some notable galleries are the Salmagundi Club in NYC and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC. To see a full list, check my primary website at www.kgmiracle.com