Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:23 Okay, so welcome to the Frame Center podcast. And today, uh, me and Scott are fortunate enough to have Kelly Broderick and Kelly Russo, who just so happened to be showing their artwork alongside this podcast next door in the uh, gallery space here at the Frame Center. So I'm really excited to talk to them. I got a lot of questions. I've already warned them, uh, and I think it's gonna be a fun conversation. So here we go. Welcome Kelly. Welcome Kelly. This is gonna be only confusion we're gonna have
Speaker 2 00:00:52 Is like try listeners in here. This will be fun.
Speaker 1 00:00:55 I'll just be uh, you give you a little push. Kelly
Speaker 2 00:00:58 Won Kelly too. Yeah. Whoever wants to answer can just Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:01:01 Exactly. Right. In general, there's very general questions about you can, uh, answer. So I'm excited. I think the show next door looks awesome. Tina did a great job again as she's been doing fantastic. Putting all that stuff together.
Speaker 2 00:01:14 I already got tons of compliments from customers coming in to see it. So you know, even before you guys opening reception night, which is on Thursday.
Speaker 3 00:01:23 Thursday, April 13th,
Speaker 2 00:01:24 <laugh> nice from
Speaker 3 00:01:26 Five to seven.
Speaker 2 00:01:27 There we go. <laugh>. Just so if little listeners at home, we're gonna have this out before that. So
Speaker 1 00:01:31 Yeah. Already a couple dots over there too, right?
Speaker 3 00:01:33 Hot. Some nice hot pink dots. I like the hot pink touch. Yeah. Yeah. Like to see those.
Speaker 1 00:01:38 Alleen is doing, she's the gallery is her baby, so she's done fantastic with it. I think we have a couple sheets of different colored dots over there, so. Great.
Speaker 3 00:01:46 Good. It was super easy to work with her too.
Speaker 2 00:01:48 I know. We've already got a lot of people that want come back. They've been taking the cards from the front door like crazy. So they all wanna come back and meet you guys cuz they all wanna talk about like what each piece means to you and things like that. Cuz with abstract stuff and everything means a little different to everybody. So, you know. That's
Speaker 1 00:02:03 Good to hear. You guys both went to Mass Art or the classes at Mass Art or?
Speaker 3 00:02:07 I went right after high school. I went from to mass art for painting and I got my bachelor's in fine arts and then being like 20 something and waitressing and working at a restaurant to make money and I'm like, this is it. It's a tough thing to do. Yeah, there wasn't like social media either. Yeah. I feel like that has like been a game changer for artists too. So I did some graphic design stuff and I just didn't love that. It's
Speaker 2 00:02:31 Tough. It's very restricting
Speaker 3 00:02:32 Too. It's like too much computer and that was not where I wanted to be, so I like took a trip to Cuba with mass art. Yeah. Like after I graduated and we ended up working with kids there. Oh, oh cool. And that was like my turning point. So I came back, back to Mass Art. Yep. Got my teaching certification and um, started teaching actually right here in Hanover at the middle school. So my students used to have art shows in the gallery, which sounds like totally
Speaker 4 00:02:59 Full Circle. Circle. Yes,
Speaker 1 00:03:01 Yes. That was the name of the show too, right? It was, yeah. That was uh, do you miss the teaching or
Speaker 3 00:03:07 Is I do miss the teaching. Yeah, the kids are super fun. It was fifth to eighth grade too, so you got like all kinds of ranges and Oh,
Speaker 2 00:03:14 I was gonna say,
Speaker 3 00:03:14 Yeah, personalities and abilities and things like that.
Speaker 2 00:03:18 So creativity is in full flow at that point without anything to block them on it, so, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 00:03:22 That's awesome. Exactly. So as I was teaching when I went back to mass art, got my master's and I was able to paint a lot then too. Yeah. And then my family started to grow. I taught for like eight years and then we had our first child and then second and then third and fourth. So basically was freezing my kids for a while. Oh, you teach at home? Right. And you know, we draw four kids
Speaker 1 00:03:44 At home and so you have like full-time
Speaker 3 00:03:45 Students. I have like my own art
Speaker 1 00:03:47 <laugh> <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:03:49 But then, you know, obviously I didn't have too much time to paint so I would take a class just to like force me Right. To like get out. So we're lucky enough to have like the social arts center in the North River Arts Association and amazing artists and teachers around. So
Speaker 2 00:04:03 Yeah, we've, we've said that several times in this show. We are pretty well saturated in this area for our groups and a bunch of different teachers and everything, so there's always something available for somebody to take and try, which is nice. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:04:13 Absolutely. And how about you Kelly? You do any teaching too or how? Any teaching background?
Speaker 4 00:04:17 No, not at all. <laugh>. Um, I do like children, but no, I have not ever taught. My connection to mass art was more when I was in high school I would spend my Saturdays at both mass art and the museum school when other kids were maybe doing like soccer practice or cheerleading practice. I spent the day doing the mass art Saturday studio classes and the museum school Saturday studio classes. And then I got my BFA from Syracuse University in design. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I actually on surfaced pattern design, which really I made that choice based on getting a job afterwards that paid and had benefits and things like I know, I know I was very responsible <laugh> thought out <laugh>. Then I spent about 20 years as a footwear designer working in the sport and fashion space.
Speaker 1 00:04:58 What, what shoe company?
Speaker 4 00:05:00 Oh, a lot of them. Yeah. I mean the Boston area is rich with shoe companies. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I worked in-house at a few and then did consulting for a few others around. So, so
Speaker 1 00:05:10 Was So you actually like drew the shoes?
Speaker 4 00:05:11 Yeah. And picked the colors and materials. I mean a lot of it translates mm-hmm. <affirmative>. The only problem I would say with it was that I spent a lot of my creative energy doing that during that time. I rarely painted, I would say I took 20 years off from painting. Yeah. I would take like a ceramics class or something here and there, but I spent a lot of time in Adobe Illustrator and drawing shoes and yeah. Working that. It was great. I was able to travel and I don't have any regrets about it, but it felt really nice and like coming home the first time I stepped back into North River Arts Society to just take any painting class for my mental health, I was like, oh yeah, yeah. Oh this feels good.
Speaker 2 00:05:46 <laugh>. Yeah. Well when you're doing something that you have to do to certain restrictions and things like that, I'm sure that cuts back on. Like it has to follow this design. There's only these many colors allowed and then when you're gonna go go home, the last thing you wanna do is play with more colors and do a thing. I did that all day and I wanna do something different. Yeah. So being able to have something else and do art again as a hobby I'm sure was, yeah,
Speaker 4 00:06:06 It felt me was much more fun.
Speaker 1 00:06:08 <laugh>. Now are you both from South Shore originally or you said you come home to North River? So
Speaker 4 00:06:13 I grew up in Weymouth,
Speaker 3 00:06:14 Weymouth and I grew up in Quincy. Nice. So social girls
Speaker 4 00:06:17 Now we're both in Ciit. <laugh> <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:06:19 Okay. Nice. Now in then the connection, I had heard a rumor that you guys were both in Kelly, uh, McDonald's class. Is that correct? Is that where, is that where you guys kind
Speaker 3 00:06:28 Of connected together? Big shout out to Kelly McDonald's. She brought us
Speaker 4 00:06:30 Big shout out together. Another Kelly,
Speaker 3 00:06:34 Just to make it very clear,
Speaker 4 00:06:36 We were sitting in front and back of each other with masks on and like Oh, that's true. I think we both admired each other's work online but had never met and then I was like, oh, you're Kelly Russo. <laugh>. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:06:46 Right. Jodi, uh, Regan had mentioned that she had had a connection where she was seeing all your work and Yeah. Added the confusion of Kelly McDonald
Speaker 4 00:06:54 In there.
Speaker 1 00:06:55 Yeah, no, I mean I think you, the work compliments each other really well. I mean, especially the way you guys, you know, everything was framed with like the black and white floaters and nice to know that
Speaker 2 00:07:05 Allowing the colors to kinda speak for the pieces himself, but also like you've got one that's really fully concentrated in the space and one that's much more open. So you got also opposites at the same time, which I think is really nice as well. Right.
Speaker 4 00:07:15 Yeah, I think Dina did a great job of taking a lot of abstract art and mm-hmm. <affirmative> helping to make it make sense together. <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:07:22 Yeah. She created like a beautiful color story. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:07:25 No, absolutely. Do you guys take classes over with Kelly on a regular basis? You know, here and there? I know that a lot of people like to take those classes just to kind of keep motivated and to like hear other people's voices.
Speaker 3 00:07:36 I did the abstract class, that's how we met. Yep. And I think I've always been an abstract painter, but I feel like there's not that many abstract classes out there. No. Especially around here. I think maybe, maybe it's becoming a little more popular I think more, yeah. Lately. Yeah. Maybe I'm a little more popular lately, but, so I just kind of wanted to see like even when I was doing painting classes at Mass Art and like we start with all the basic stuff. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like still life and portrait and landscape and there's, I don't even remember taking like an abstract class at Mass Art. You know, you just kind of followed your own way and were supported with whatever you wanted to do. And like obviously the professors would encourage you to like check out different artists and things like that. Try
Speaker 2 00:08:16 Different styles,
Speaker 3 00:08:17 Try different stuff. Yeah. But, um, that was like the abstract class. But I do love to do, I have taken Kelly's Plant AR class too. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and with oil paints, I just feel like I do paint abstractly, but I do also like to, I've taken portrait classes in oil and I like to go out and paint like realistically, not that I feel like it's my style, but I feel like it kind of like sharpens your tools a
Speaker 4 00:08:39 Little bit. Does sharpen your tools.
Speaker 1 00:08:40 Yeah. Like I have one of her paintings and I've seen her stuff all, but it's done like loose, not like an abstract, like the level of like, you
Speaker 4 00:08:48 Know, Kelly can paint anything. Yeah. Is what I would say about Kelly. Yeah. She can paint a Dunking Donuts cup. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and a donut. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative> with beauty. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and integrity and it's stunning. And she also does a lot of abstract work as well. Yeah. So she really,
Speaker 3 00:09:01 I feel like the abstract stuff is kind of newer for her too.
Speaker 1 00:09:04 Yeah. Well I mean if, if you have something like I know she sells a lot of donuts, right? She does <laugh>. Yeah. I mean if you have something that's working and you're supporting yourself as an, an artist like you, I mean sometimes the other stuff that you do this like more of a passion might get, I
Speaker 4 00:09:18 Think she's leaning more abstract, but she floats back and forth between abstraction and realism and I will take like a workshop or a class whenever I can mm-hmm. <affirmative> much like Kelly said, I think painting in community and with others like is always good for you and taking classes that push you in any direction is always good for any artist. I don't think staying in one, even though abstract is where I really feel comfortable and confident and it makes me the happiest. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like there is something great about painting a lemon once in a while or a landscape or Right.
Speaker 1 00:09:47 Yeah. I mean just wanna have all those tools in the toolbox. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:09:52 Abstracts a great way of getting a mood out onto a piece of your current mood and feelings out onto a Absolutely. Okay. Without having to take a general form of shape of something, you know.
Speaker 3 00:10:00 Yeah. I almost don't understand how people can't do it. Like it's just such a release and like, uh,
Speaker 2 00:10:04 Well a lot, I mean so many people think that art has to follow an exact set of rules and it must be just like stay within the lines you've been told all your lives you must stay inside. The lines can only paint and to go outside those lines, it's sometimes difficult for people.
Speaker 4 00:10:15 It's so freeing
Speaker 2 00:10:16 And, but that's the thing, it's, it's much more like open. Like, you know, I do the liquid acrylic pores. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3 00:10:21 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:10:22 Pores and sometimes it's just about a color palette you happen to be feeling that day or just a certain mood. Sometimes men are dark and you know, kind of depressing. Sometimes men are bright and vivid and lovely. It all just depends on Right. When I'm feeling and I feel I can get one of those out much faster than I could if I'm working on one of my watercolors that might take me four to five weeks to paint. You know, depending on, then you gotta wait for things to dry and go back with this you can kind of blend mix, go let things dry. Right. Right. If it cracks, it's great. Oh, that adds to it. You know, it doesn't really matter. It's all just depends. It
Speaker 3 00:10:50 Can be a lot of play with it.
Speaker 2 00:10:51 That's the thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:10:52 So I find the first part of it the most freeing and the most fun is when you're just getting the beginning out on the paper. Yeah. Or the canvas. But I think sort of as you go back and forth with the layers and you're trying to hone in your color palette and your composition. Yeah. It can take time. Sometimes I stare at a painting for weeks. I love carry it around my house.
Speaker 2 00:11:11 <laugh>. Yeah. I love building a color theme for a piece and figuring out where I want to go with it. And then it's even better when it comes out <laugh> mind just, it's a little more frustrating when the wrong colors come out on top, but you know, it's, you learn from it every single time you do one. So that's,
Speaker 3 00:11:25 I think Damian Hurst actually just started to do poor paintings Oh yeah. Too, which is like the artist Damian Hurst was like, you know, they're
Speaker 2 00:11:32 Fun popularly because it is something that
Speaker 3 00:11:35 Zillions of dollars always
Speaker 2 00:11:36 Say that everybody can do. Which is how I found it. I found it online watching a random YouTube video. Right, right. You know, up until that point I was doing acrylic painting or you know, for landscapes or watercolor. Right, right, right. And then I found those and I was like, oh me try 'em out. Right. And I was like, oh this is kind of awesome. You know, <laugh>. Yeah. And then there's like 500 different techniques. There's no single way you can make one, you know? Yeah. And you can blend different pieces together. I've done 'em with like acrylic paints and house paints. Oh yeah, yeah. Add splash and nail polish, add it, you know, it doesn't really matter cuz it all is gonna end up making it the unique factor in there. So. Cool. It's pretty fun.
Speaker 1 00:12:09 Give it a shot. I feel like with the abstract stuff too, like some of the painting I used to do, which I haven't done in ages, it's just like for me, but my process was kind of like, just like getting as much paint and colors as I like onto and then like letting something kind of come forward. And I felt like the stuff that I like always had like the same type of uh, feel to it. Like what I would see, I'd always like try to find like a figure or something like that. Okay. In the process. I also used to drink a lot when I would paint
Speaker 3 00:12:34 <laugh> it was like
Speaker 1 00:12:35 Very kinda pollock of you. But, but it was also like, it was also like a, um, I dunno just like a kind of like a relaxing thing for me. It was just like, I'm gonna go downstairs, be left alone. Yeah. Yeah. And start to just trying to create something, you know. Um, since I gave up drinking, it's not as much, you know, I have just, I had to give up painting too. <laugh>, come on, <laugh> back over. But no, I mean I, I, you know, I still mess with things from time to time and then hopefully once the store is up and running, then all of my social media duties are right. Done. I'll return to it at some point. We're in like a, you know, such a great community for that Totally. Sort of, uh, thing. I think that it seems like it'd be something to easily to come back to.
Speaker 2 00:13:13 Yeah. Wildly accepted and easily, uh, found where you can, you know, work on something
Speaker 4 00:13:17 Like that. Like I said, I gave up painting for 20 years Yeah. And walked back in and the smell alone, I was like, I'm back <laugh>. I'm back.
Speaker 3 00:13:23 <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:13:24 Guys are lucky. You're right in the middle of citrus. Right in the middle of Cohasset in Marshfield. See. Totally. Did you take classes from Kelly in, in Marshfield or is she teaching both. Like a lot of the teachers seem like they teach in both of the, uh, facilities.
Speaker 3 00:13:37 I think she's just in Marshall. Just
Speaker 1 00:13:39 In
Speaker 3 00:13:39 Marshall. I think so. That's where I took the classes with her too.
Speaker 1 00:13:42 Yes. One of you guys is, is going for a residency at South Shore or is it uh, applying for a gallery artist.
Speaker 4 00:13:48 So I applied in October and was accepted as a gallery artist and actually showing a little bit of work in their lobby this month as well. And I think the next application round is in
Speaker 3 00:13:57 April. It's next week. Yes. Week. So I'll be bringing stuff next. I know
Speaker 2 00:14:00 It's hard to leave. It's already April. I know. Where did March go? Right.
Speaker 1 00:14:04 Their facility is fantastic. Wonderful.
Speaker 3 00:14:05 Some, right? Yes. And they've had so many other, like, I've been able to show paintings in there, even not as a gallery artist, but just, uh, some of their, they have George shows and then they have just some open things as well.
Speaker 1 00:14:18 And the big festival coming up. Both
Speaker 3 00:14:20 Of the Yes. It's a lot. We, we keep sending up each other. All the dates and deadlines for all
Speaker 4 00:14:25 I'm gonna make
Speaker 3 00:14:26 For next year.
Speaker 1 00:14:27 We're
Speaker 2 00:14:28 Working on, it's a lot to keep. Well it's the thing we, even the one that we put together, we try to collaborate with all the different art groups in the area. Have 'em send us and like you're having a show, send me the thing so I can get in an email. Send me s images, time, dates, anything You can, we'll put it on our calendar so that we can build a kind of central hub for all the different area. That's really smart. South Shore. Cause it's tough. There's so many And sometimes they overlap each other. Right.
Speaker 3 00:14:50 They all overlap each other a
Speaker 2 00:14:51 Bit. There's barely any breathing room between one type and the next.
Speaker 1 00:14:54 Yeah. And everyone kind of crosses, right? Yeah. Like everyone. It's not like you don't wanna, all right. I'm only gonna be a part of this art association. You wanna be a part of that whole like community on the South shore?
Speaker 3 00:15:04 Absolutely. I haven't made it to the James Library show yet. Yes. It looks amazing. It does.
Speaker 1 00:15:08 Look, that facility is really cool. Yeah. Like first show on artwork
Speaker 2 00:15:11 Come a long way. It's
Speaker 1 00:15:12 Beautiful. Yeah. We were
Speaker 3 00:15:13 Just over. Yeah. You guys did a great, like I know you guys
Speaker 1 00:15:15 Yeah. We're a sponsor. Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to make a point to like go to all the sh you know, I I like art. Yeah. You know, I mean I'm fortunate that we're, you know, we're here and we're involved in like that scene, but like it's a nice excuse for me to leave for a half a day and go over to and see the stuff and just like grab Elizabeth and we'll take or Claude and we'll just take some pictures of Thes in there and then we can kind of, you know, help give back to the, the artists that have stuff friend via us. It's like a nice way to like show where their stuff is. It's also really nice to see this stuff on a wall and like a gallery setting. Also try and encourage people to send these pictures of like stuff hanging in their homes after it's finished too.
Speaker 1 00:15:53 Yeah. Cuz it's, you know, we see the, that's true product but it like when you add it to like a wall at somebody's house or in like a, the James is just like a cool backdrop I feel like with like books and stuff like that Right. Downstairs and that older space downstairs. But it's cool to see the stuff alongside other artwork as well. Right. Which makes it like sometimes challenging to hang like a show like that where there's like a wide uh, variety of stuff. Right. I know Bill and uh, the woman that helped him, they did a great job lining that stuff up. I mean I think it pairs well together. It's probably, it's still complicated but you don't have like this random uh
Speaker 3 00:16:29 Right. You know Right. Like perfect still life or something. Yeah. Yeah. The
Speaker 1 00:16:33 Have like, alright, where like, are we gonna put this? What does
Speaker 3 00:16:35 This connect to?
Speaker 2 00:16:36 We trying run into that problem with the hand over day show. But, so you know, where it's just a mix of everybody from South Shore
Speaker 3 00:16:41 Here, so in all different frames too. Exactly. Yeah. It's not all cohesive that frames.
Speaker 1 00:16:47 No, I think you,
Speaker 2 00:16:47 But it definitely works. And that's the thing with this kind of framing for an abstract, you don't restrict any of the painting. There's nothing covered. Right. It's open and flowing and, and with abstract, it's supposed to have that kind of open field. If you heaven it feel constricted and limited by the edge of a frame or behind glass or anything like that. I mean, I know you have a few pieces that are behind glass, but they have that just natural, neutral, white, black, you know, nothing that's either, it's either complimenting and enhancing a color that's in there, but nothing feels overly restricted in, in any of the pieces that I've seen that you've got hanging. So. Right. And that's a tough thing with abstract. You never know One, sometimes people don't know which way to
Speaker 3 00:17:25 Uh Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 00:17:26 Orient the picture. You know. Cause one person sees something in one direction and another person sees it in another. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:31 My husband has definitely hung things the wrong way in our, like of my
Speaker 2 00:17:35 Band. So I tend not to sign my pieces. I never know what, I just don't
Speaker 3 00:17:37 Understand. How can you not see it?
Speaker 2 00:17:39 Orientation. So I signed everything on the back and then let them pick which way they Oh,
Speaker 3 00:17:43 Okay. No, I'm very specific. I know exactly how,
Speaker 1 00:17:48 What's the, the process when you're working on some of the stuff when
Speaker 4 00:17:51 You're staring in a blank canvas, what do you do <laugh>? Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think we both start in a similar way where with one color paint. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or mark making tool charcoal something. Yeah. Just sort of do some gestural or some intuitive drawing. Yeah. And then I tend to like to mix some water in there, some crayons in there just to sort of break up the space and get the canvas activated as they say. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And oftentimes it's really a conversation back and forth. Each layer, like you get some marks down, you look at it in terms of form and color composition. But the beginning part is really very intuitive. Yeah. It's really just
Speaker 1 00:18:25 So when you finish a piece is that you're like, oh, this is exactly what I had in mind. No <laugh>. No. Yeah. No. So
Speaker 4 00:18:32 It's, I think if you start a painting thinking of what you have in mind Yeah. It comes out that way. Yeah. It looks kind of forced. Right. Versus if you really just respond to each layer. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:18:42 Yeah. Constraining to an idea versus a, like
Speaker 4 00:18:44 You said, it comes out in a much, the painting feels much more alive and much better. Yeah. Feel
Speaker 3 00:18:49 The same. I don't think I'm as free as Kelly is. Like, I feel like I have like my kind of language of shapes that I kind of repeat mm-hmm. <affirmative> and love and like, I feel like also sometimes if I get stuck I'll just like look at a bunch of other work or you know, Kelly does like her daily paintings and does um, ah, also like the grid things. Oh yeah. Kind of warm exercises. I've kind of done something similar but on like these little wood panels, these eight by eight wood panels mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I feel like I have like stacks of them now. So sometimes I'll even pull them out like as like a reference. No catalog, <laugh> of um, things like, you know, so sometimes I'll start from something like what works in this, like what's not working mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I like those marks. I like those shapes. So sometimes I do have a little bit more of a reference and don't just go
Speaker 4 00:19:34 For it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I do the same thing with my stacks of daily paintings. Okay. Like if I get stuck on a painting. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, okay, I'll just pull a stack out. I'm like, right, what do I like about this? Exactly. Oh, this scraper tool. Or oh, what do I like about this? Oh, I did kind of a whitewash over some of it. Or like Right. You kind of, there is something freeing about working on a smaller piece or a paper piece. Right. And that sounds ridiculous Right. Than our big abstract thinks. Yeah. But there is something more freeing about working smaller, working on paper that like if you screw up,
Speaker 3 00:20:00 Who cares? Yeah. And then the technology is cool too because you can look at a piece in like there's those art stage rooms that you can like, yes. But sometimes if you like blow it up big, you're like, oh, that actually would work. That
Speaker 4 00:20:11 Would work
Speaker 3 00:20:11 Really vague. Or sometimes if it's like you don't know what sum
Speaker 2 00:20:15 Yeah. If you do it in a small scale first and then work with it to go bigger.
Speaker 4 00:20:17 Right.
Speaker 3 00:20:18 Yeah. You don't always know. So you may
Speaker 2 00:20:19 Add more or change.
Speaker 3 00:20:20 Exactly. I mean, I don't usually, like,
Speaker 4 00:20:22 That usually doesn't work for me. Yeah. Like if I like it small on composition. Yeah. If I try to do it big again, sometimes I feel like it feels forced. It's good for reference. Sure. Yeah. Just in the back of your head, like, oh, this like ratio of this is good, but if you try to like copy a small one and make it make, make a bag. Yeah. I rarely have success with that. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:20:40 <affirmative> <laugh> for me, it definitely changes a lot, but I feel like sometimes if I'm like just stuck or something that's like, it's helpful.
Speaker 2 00:20:47 Yeah. I follow several groups online for doing the abstract artwork and they use those programs all the time to say like, boom, this is what it would look like. Right. I mean it's above the sofa at the base of a stairwell. We're in a gallery space, that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 00:20:59 I think that helps, especially if you're working alone in your studio. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to like check yourself a little like how close it might have done on this piece.
Speaker 1 00:21:05 When you sit down to work, I mean, do you have the colors already kind of mapped out or is that too same thing you just,
Speaker 4 00:21:12 Some days there's a seed of a plan for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:21:14 Like I kind of feel like I have my go-to colors, but then I like mix 'em up and,
Speaker 1 00:21:19 Well I feel like you some like, I mean this looking through everything in there, it's like, oh, it's not like you have a palette that's totally consistent.
Speaker 4 00:21:26 Right. I tend to work with a pretty limited palette most of the time on one painting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. One painting may have max like five colors, but then mixed infinite colors from
Speaker 3 00:21:37 That. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 4 00:21:38 I don't tend to just put every color on the palette. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 3 00:21:41 Yeah. It really is amazing how much color you can get from like a limited palette. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> too. And I feel like especially with abstract too, like it just helps to like create more harmony in the whole piece. If you have like a little bit of that CAD red mixed with the blue or something like that. Yeah. So it's not just a kind of straight mixed out of the tube kind of. Oh.
Speaker 2 00:22:01 Yeah. Now do you find you have to mix more than you feel you're gonna need for that particular painting so that if you have to go back over and layer over everything, you can do it or you just go, do you go straight from tube or do you do
Speaker 4 00:22:12 I mix everything on the fly. You
Speaker 2 00:22:14 Mix everyth
Speaker 4 00:22:14 Everything in the fly. I use what I have, then I make some more. Yeah. I feel like color matching is one of my superpowers. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. So if I need to rematch it, yeah. It's fine. Yeah. If you're only working with a limited palette, you can kind of reremember, even if you don't write it down, I can like, yeah. And I must have been CAD red and paint gray <laugh>. Yeah. And CAD yellow and like maybe I put black in there Yeah. Or whatever. And I can recreate if needed. But I think especially in some of the pieces that are more monochromatic, having the tones and textures, even the slight differences in colors. Yeah. And the blending is what makes it more interesting when you look up close mm-hmm. <affirmative> versus if I had one pot of the same mixed color, I thought it would
Speaker 3 00:22:49 Look really flat. Yeah. No, I don't do the pots. I know there's plenty of people that too. But yeah, again, I can color mix pretty good. Yeah. <laugh> I used to love when, that was one of the things I liked about teaching, like if they were doing like a start project and wanted like a, you know, if they were working from a another artwork or something like that. I can find that color. It's smart. It's, it's fun. It's, it is, it's like a, a little bit of a challenge. Oh sure. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, even if you have a very limited, I'm like, I can still get there. So yeah. Just a little bit of black and
Speaker 1 00:23:16 Bite. Same. Same. And then how about like when you, people are interpreting you pieces mm-hmm. <affirmative>, do you want them to see something specific or do you just want them to find something in the piece that you know, like, this is what it is? Or are you, is it kind of left for interpretation and
Speaker 4 00:23:28 To me, my biggest compliment I think I received on one of my paintings was someone who like told me, I don't understand abstract art, but I can't stop looking at this painting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I really love it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I was like, wonderful. Right. Yeah. Like it's more about a feeling. Feeling. Yeah. Exactly. And that, you know, an appreciation and if you don't like it, that's also fine. I think people would respond to different paintings. Right. More again, on an intuitive level versus saying, I see a bunny rabbit in there. Right. I see a martini glass. What
Speaker 3 00:23:55 About you? Yeah. I feel the same way. Like, we've actually had this conversation about how like if you're doing something super abstract and very loose and then you've put like one horizon line in Oh people are like, oh yeah, it's a men's amazing. You know, it's just like, oh yeah, you just that one little horizon line just, you can do whatever you want. Yeah. And nobody will question what are doing, what are you thinking about what is going on? But for me it's just like, I think it's almost like, um, think of it as like play and like just like have fun with like shape and color and see what happens And, um, yeah, definitely not thinking of this is like, I mean, I do have some landscapes over there. Yeah. Not dogging landscapes, but
Speaker 4 00:24:34 <laugh>. No, but your landscapes are very much
Speaker 3 00:24:37 Abstracting. Right. And, and they're still about color and texture and shape. Like, that's more important to me than like making it look. Um,
Speaker 2 00:24:43 Yeah. People see what they wanna see in the landscape. There are things that they, like in landscapes they see in the painting, that's what they'll pull out of it. Versus being like, that's definitely a hydrangea bush. Or like, you know.
Speaker 3 00:24:52 Yeah. I feel like, you know, people get a visceral reaction and that's a good thing and some people can't get there. Yeah. But that's okay. That's okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:25:03 So you're not spending a lot of time trying to explain what the pieces are to
Speaker 4 00:25:08 No,
Speaker 3 00:25:08 No. It's almost like cooking. Like once you have the ingredients and know what the ingredients will do Yeah. Then you kind of are free to like just play. Yeah. And if you know, like I know when like a piece is done.
Speaker 2 00:25:19 Yeah. That one that you don't go that one extra step too far and go, oh,
Speaker 3 00:25:22 Like when you look at all the spots and you're like, okay, it's uh, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:25:26 Sometimes I carry it resolve. I carry the painting around my house sometimes and like put it up in the kitchen like as I'm cooking dinner and I'm like, I do like you <laugh>. Or like, you're not quite there yet. Yeah. Or maybe more paint or like always looking at it in the morning with fresh eyes will determine. Right. Right. Like, yes, you are complete. Or like, actually no, you need one more thought. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:25:43 That was the hardest thing for me was to learn not to futz with things. Right. It's like, let it be, let it dry. Let us see how it's gonna be when it's fully done and don't try to correct it right now.
Speaker 3 00:25:51 Yeah. Especially if there's parts that you really do like.
Speaker 2 00:25:53 Exactly. It's always the part that ends up getting ruined is the part you love too. It's like, I can't get that
Speaker 3 00:25:57 Back now. Right. But I must say too, like looking at these, especially like from seeing all your online, but looking at them up close is like such a different
Speaker 2 00:26:04 Experience. Oh, it's always different than a 2D image on screen.
Speaker 3 00:26:07 Yeah. It really is
Speaker 2 00:26:07 Color texture. We always said this thing, it's one of the things that's difficult about a lot of the online submissions. It's like, how can you get the feeling and the impression of the scope of a piece? Right. Unless you see it in person. Right. The picture they may send to you may only be a six by six, but on a screen it can look right. You know, huge. And then in person it feels much more, you know, you pick up the delicate textures and the layering and the, the simple brush strokes that you don't pick up if the highlight's not you're hitting it the right way. Yeah. Versus something that's a photograph that's, you know, huge. But on a screen now it's small. It's like again, you lose that the scale. That scale
Speaker 3 00:26:39 Is the scale. And even the colors, like they don't
Speaker 2 00:26:41 Translate. Color never translates. Everybody's monitors tinted something different. Totally. To get the darkness up. Totally know. Darkness down, brightness up.
Speaker 4 00:26:47 Right. Yeah. I think one of the things that's interesting about this style of painting that Kelly and I share is just the richness of the layers and the texture and the history that's there as we build a painting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's so much you can look at it from across the room and be like, oh, I like that. And then when you get close you're discover something new. Right. Yeah. Every time you look at it.
Speaker 1 00:27:04 And is it like the part of the community of like, is this piece finished? Or if you're working on something or you're kind of on your own for that stuff and just come together for,
Speaker 4 00:27:13 I mean, I wouldn't hesitate to ask Kelly that if I needed advice I would text her <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:27:17 I mean I feel like that happens in the classes, but like outside of the classes, probably not as much. I feel like I ask her for more technical, like
Speaker 4 00:27:24 Yeah. We call each other be like, what website? Right. Software do you think you're gonna use? Or pricing? Things
Speaker 3 00:27:31 Like that. Like that, like that kind of
Speaker 2 00:27:32 Stuff. Having someone like that to bounce things off of that's like, it's great. It makes it so much easier when you know somebody else is already in the same boat as you for that end
Speaker 3 00:27:38 Thing. Right. My website is actually going live Ooh, today. Nice.
Speaker 1 00:27:42 Which would be,
Speaker 3 00:27:43 It's Kelly Russo art.com. There we go. And um, Susan Davis at Best HD Marketing, they helped me, Stephanie McDonald's who works for her. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> helped me put it together. I tried to do it myself. I don't, Kelly did hers and I did all the power to you this morning, but I just couldn't, I just was spending too much time trying to teach myself how to do it. And I just,
Speaker 2 00:28:04 Yeah. It's a lot in
Speaker 3 00:28:05 And I know what, just what we know <laugh>, that's, that's one of the things that I know what I wanted it to look like and I just couldn't get,
Speaker 4 00:28:12 I actually, I took a class at the Collective Co in North Ciit with Kate Bowler who does a lot of social media and like she wrote a cookbook, that kind of thing. But it was about like your own branding. Mm-hmm. Which I would never approach my art as a design project. Sure. Like having the history that I have working in the design industry. Mm-hmm. I was like, oh <laugh>, I need to make mood boards for how I want my website to feel. Mm-hmm. Oh, I need to pick this font in this. And like, so I treated a little bit like a design project a year ago from a technical standpoint. I don't know that it really works properly, but, um, you can see my work there. I
Speaker 1 00:28:44 Think it's, well your website is great. I think both of your Instagrams, uh, that you guys use. I mean do you, we're trying assume Yeah. <laugh>. No, but I think you, I mean it has a great feel to it, you know, I mean, Instagram's a great outlet for all artists to show, especially if you have like a painting you to crank and out at least one every day, you know? Yeah. Just to have like that um, collection of work for somebody to see. I mean, do you feel like you sell a lot because of Instagram and the website? Or do
Speaker 4 00:29:09 You I've been surprised
Speaker 1 00:29:10 There's plenty of things that are March
Speaker 4 00:29:11 Sold on now been, yeah. No, I've been surprised that it's worked. I guess I feel like it's a process. Um, as an artist, I'd rather be painting all day. Yeah. But you know, it is important to carve out a certain amount of time to sort of Sure. Make sure that if someone wanted to buy something, it's available and I know how to get it to them. And someone wanted to buy a large painting recently and I was like, how do I even ship it? Yeah. How do ship it? Yeah. So we're learning as we go, I would say. But in addition to reaching customers that maybe we wouldn't be able to reach, it's also been great to connect with other artists whose work you admire and Right. Like I am like, oh,
Speaker 3 00:29:43 There's been a couple of people that I have no idea who they are. Different artists on Instagram that are gonna come to the shop. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:29:49 <laugh>. Oh, that's
Speaker 4 00:29:50 Awesome. Yeah. Because there's another abstract artist on the face to face. Right. Our show was like, I can't wait for your show. Right. I
Speaker 3 00:29:54 Can't wait to meet
Speaker 4 00:29:55 You.
Speaker 2 00:29:56 We talked so often, but I don't know who you are yet. Exactly.
Speaker 4 00:29:59 No. So I mean, I think social media can get a bad rap, but I also think there's a lot of good in terms of connecting artists and connecting communities and connecting buyers.
Speaker 2 00:30:06 That's the benefit of it. Yeah. Cuz there are people that can't get themselves away to get to the galleries or to a place that you're selling. Or they may be on the West coast and they want to, you know, see your stuff. Being able to have a place where they can go and view it is Right. Great. And a place that you can get an onto easily enough. Yeah. That you don't have to fight tooth and nail until you can get a whole thing up. Tilt where you can, like you said, just go in and Right. Easily drop your new pieces into and have 'em on display. Yeah. The social media was the best way for that. It's actually been the best thing for a lot of new artists I've seen. Yeah. Well
Speaker 1 00:30:34 Think it, it opens your, your audience. Right? Absolutely. And then it also, fortunate enough, no, a few artists, but it also like opens the door too. Like at least you have something on there. There's a reference of what your work looks like. You can put down what the sizes are a price point. Right. You know, so people understand if they're, I mean, I don't know how many questions you have to field or from those things, but like I think having all that stuff out there is like, it eliminates some of the tire kickers. Right. Like it's <laugh>. Oh yeah. That's great. And then like some people don't understand the value and some of that stuff and Right. Not that there's anything wrong with that. People spend what they want, but it eliminates some of the, oh, I can afford that painting. Or at least have a point of references. Sure. Like maybe I'll be able to save up and get a one of those pieces. Cuz spending money on our work I think is also important. Like Right. I think about all this stuff constantly, but like, you know, if it doesn't cost you something, what, you know, like getting that value. Right.
Speaker 3 00:31:28 Like think of it as an investment in something that you want
Speaker 1 00:31:30 Investment. Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, if you could just have every painting, like what would Right. Right. What would the, you know Yeah. Treating it with care or like presenting it in the right place. I mean they're one of a kind. So obviously that's needs to be treated the same way. I don't know. I think about these things and then you, the same thing is like, you have all the artwork of your children. Right. Like a personal value to you. Huh? I mean, I feel like you need to spend some money on the artwork if you're for it to have a value. Yeah. I don't know. These are weird. No,
Speaker 4 00:31:59 I think it, it was something,
Speaker 3 00:32:00 It was
Speaker 4 00:32:01 Something that we talked about and that I was thinking a lot about in terms of this show. Cuz obviously we have some bigger pieces, both of us that are more of an investment, but then also having some paper pieces that are framed that are more affordable. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or some smaller canvas pieces that if you wanted something, you know, for a cute little shelf, you want a little mm-hmm. Taste of the artwork. Right. Not a huge one. Right. That we tried to make sure that we have some of that available as well. Yeah. I think it's fun to do us
Speaker 2 00:32:24 Larges in right now though too. I tell you it's, it's <laugh> as you can tell by our space for storing all our artwork when people bring it in. Yeah. There's little <laugh>, little space left for anything that's not 18 by 24 or larger. Right. People are looking for larger statement pieces right now. So that's the, the hot ticket item that I've, we've seen coming.
Speaker 4 00:32:40 I would say we have a few very big ones. Oh, sorry, <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:32:42 You've got some decent sized pieces there. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:32:44 Those great smaller work is important too because like how do
Speaker 2 00:32:47 You, how do you start?
Speaker 1 00:32:48 Yeah. I mean that are, I always think of things like, cuz I'm thinking about frames too and like you, the aspect of like a gift or something like that. I feel like somebody's like, oh I really like Kelly's work. I think that Scott buy it too, like buy like a, a painting that's like, you know, 40 by 40. It'd be like, there you go.
Speaker 4 00:33:05 I thought you might like this
Speaker 3 00:33:07 The back door. No, it's
Speaker 2 00:33:09 Scott. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:33:09 Yeah. You know, having like a smaller piece, it helps some introduce the artist or like, you're not like some of the bigger pieces it's, you'd have to have a room set up around them. Right. Whereas like some medium size pieces and smaller pieces, it's like you can love the piece and you know,
Speaker 4 00:33:25 Integrate into your home.
Speaker 2 00:33:26 Yeah. Yeah. We have people say that all the time. Yeah. It's like, you know, how big should I go with this? I'm giving you this a gift. I'm like, I wouldn't go any bigger than 16 by 20. Right. As a gift. You know, anything larger than that, you know, kinda have to have it designated space for, you know, to have it totally fit properly without it being like wedge between two windows with an inch intro space on either side. It just doesn't look right. It doesn't fit the space.
Speaker 3 00:33:43 Totally. I was thinking about all these like white kitchens around here too. Oh yes too. Yes. And I'm like some of these bright like people, people probably wouldn't think of that, but I'm like, that needs to be one of our marketing actually
Speaker 2 00:33:53 Is that we have a lot of people that actually frame stuff and go, I want it for my kitchen. And the smaller pieces are great for that and it's smaller multi pieces. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:34:01 Okay.
Speaker 2 00:34:01 Three 12 by twelves, you know, like over the breakfast. No. Right, right. You know, things like that that people want to have just, they want to keep it minimal. Right. But they want to have just a splash of color
Speaker 3 00:34:10 Splash. The
Speaker 4 00:34:12 Kitchen is an underrated place to put art.
Speaker 2 00:34:14 Everyone always worried about getting wrecked from, you know, cooking, cooking
Speaker 4 00:34:16 Spend, spend so much time in your kitchen. And so if
Speaker 2 00:34:19 You're, when I go home West Vegetables several
Speaker 4 00:34:20 Hours for dinner, you might as well be looking at a small piece of art.
Speaker 3 00:34:23 You're thinking though about those staged pictures with like the perfect fruit. Like all this big, you know, the fruit and the, just to add some color, but like why not put some art and stuff <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:34:34 Something other than live left love written on your wall, you know, or something. Yes, <laugh>. Yes. Yes. Not there's anything wrong with that, but <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:34:41 Right.
Speaker 1 00:34:42 Yeah. That are poorly done painting mass produced paintings of uh, some sort of fruit or Oh yeah. Festival. Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. No, and I think that speaking of cooking and like, like the ingredients aspect of the paintings, I mean I think that the motion and like that sort of thing would translate well into someone's kitchen. So Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:35:02 Totally <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:35:04 Yeah. So let me think of some other questions. <laugh>, you
Speaker 4 00:35:08 Wanna, uh, I thought when you said you had a lot of questions there'd be like a list. I like that. It's, it's just off the top of your
Speaker 1 00:35:12 Head. <laugh>. Yeah. No, I
Speaker 2 00:35:13 Can't, it's too structured. <laugh>, you have to do it off, off the, off the cuff there.
Speaker 1 00:35:17 When you are also talking about like the investment aspect when you price the work, do you like fall in love with some pieces and then you don't want, like is that a part of the decision making
Speaker 3 00:35:27 Process? A hundred percent. Yeah. <laugh>,
Speaker 4 00:35:29 I saw an artist who does a lot of classes and stuff online say, your price should be something that if you sell it, you're not sad about it. Right. And I, I thought that stayed with me, but at the same time I sold my favorite painting I've done so far recently and I hesitated and then I was like, you know what? The creativity is infinite. Like I'm gonna paint more. Okay. So this should not be staying in my house. Yeah. It should be enjoyed. It's in a beautiful home that was just freshly renovated and I'm like, I love this painting, but go forth, have fun, live your best life painting, you know, <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:36:01 Just letting it go.
Speaker 4 00:36:02 So yeah, there is an attachment to some more than others and the price might reflect that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but at the same time it's nice to see them. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:36:09 These pieces I've held onto for a couple years and I'm like right. I'm not as in love with this piece as I was when I first made it. Cuz maybe it was the first one that came out the way I originally attended in my mind that I saw. Like the colors all worked perfectly. Right. I can't get rid of this. And then it's like, well, you know, it's all right and I could use a little extra money. Right. I mean that's, it's a lot of factors. And again, mood too. Yeah. Maybe the mood I was in as a mood I don't want to be in anymore when I see it. So it's, but somebody else may really enjoy, pull something different out of it. So
Speaker 4 00:36:36 I spent years with keeping my artwork in a big portfolio like under a bed or in my attic. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so therefore like putting it in the world feels very freeing and kind of crazy to me at this point. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but also like maybe that's exactly how it's supposed to go. Not say living under your bed or in an attic portfolio.
Speaker 3 00:36:54 <laugh>. I just feel like sometimes the harder pieces to get right over the ones that like maybe you had like a breakthrough moment too and you're like, I need that around a little bit longer.
Speaker 1 00:37:03 Yeah. Yeah. And well you have the smaller pieces to give you inspiration. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and like as references you said too. So yeah. I think that that's, uh, I don't know. I'm trying to think of other pieces of of mine that I've like, oh, I'd wanted absurd amount of money for some of the things cuz I'm not producing anything, but, right. The other piece is that you sell, I've noticed like a lot of 'em, your site, you have plenty of sold or not available anymore. Like, do you feel like you have a connection to the people that bought them or are you?
Speaker 4 00:37:33 In some cases, yes. And in other cases it's actually exhilarating when I like mail, especially my daily paintings, which are pretty affordable and easy to package and mail. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> when I mail them off to some state with a human that I don't know, I think like, wow, you're living in a house in Michigan, <laugh>. Right, right. You know, a stranger bought that. So there's an attachment, but also again, like it feels good to know that they're mm-hmm. <affirmative> living with a stranger somewhere in a nice home.
Speaker 1 00:37:59 Do you like get involved in the conversations with those people that they're buying them too?
Speaker 4 00:38:03 Sometimes they'll send me an a, a photo of like where it ends up, which I like and yeah. Again, this isn't happening like a hundred times a day, so it's easy enough to respond and Sure. Yeah. Have a conversation. But
Speaker 1 00:38:14 No, I, I think about it like people buying art and like, because there's such a, I feel like sometimes people are intimidated by it. Right? Like they don't know about buying art or like, you know, just seeing what people frame and how they frame things. Sometimes there's, I don't wanna say like lack of creativity, but more like lack of confidence in like Sure. Knowing what you like and why you like it. And I think that sometimes when people buy art, I think it's nice to know who the person you're buying the artwork from mm-hmm. Is. Mm-hmm. Or at least like have a thing in your head about like, this is Kelly, she's gonna be like a famous abstract painter. You know, or like you're finding their stuff before like the masses find it. Like, I feel like sometimes that's like a, a nice selling point Right. Because the people are buying more than the painting. They're buying like a something.
Speaker 4 00:38:59 Yeah. The story.
Speaker 3 00:38:59 It's personal. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4 00:39:00 Yeah. It is very personal.
Speaker 2 00:39:02 Yeah. Well yeah. Cause you could sit and you could go on any website you want to art.com and buy some $5 print and put something up cuz you like the color palette. Yeah. But if you have a connection to the artist and you know the story behind it, how long it took to work, if you saw a progression of like, this is how it started and then you watched the artist work on it for a couple of weeks and they put up snippets of it's almost ready. It's, and then here it is. And then you can say like, here, watch this. You started this in January and it went all the way to, you know mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. This, you can sometimes I find more interesting then, like I said, the $5 print from our.com. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 3 00:39:32 I, and then those things get so flattened out too. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like again, like seeing this stuff in person mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's so much more depth to everything. And
Speaker 4 00:39:39 I mean, at the same time, the person who bought my favorite painting was like, I like it in the photo, but I haven't seen it in real life because it was sort of match. And I said, take it for the weekend. Hang it up. Yeah. Look at it. Live with it. Spend some time with it. If you're gonna invest in it, I want you to like it. Yeah. And not from a one inch square on Instagram. Right.
Speaker 2 00:39:57 Yeah. We know several artists that will actually go to people's homes and like, here, put it up. Let's see how it looks. That's what I did. If it doesn't look right, then why would you buy it? Why would I want somebody to, you know, hate it every single time walk by
Speaker 4 00:40:07 Yeah. Someone to feel good about your purchase, you
Speaker 2 00:40:09 Know? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:40:09 Yeah. I mean cause that's the, I mean from the frame standpoint, like Right, like you'll almost have a billboard in the,
Speaker 2 00:40:14 I know Michael do that. Mike Sleeper goes and brings people things to people's homes to, you know, if he goes, okay, if you're gonna invest in a piece of my artwork and you wanna see it in the space, I am more than happy to bring it to you. Yeah. And I'll show you one or two different variations of something I have. Right. That will maybe you thought it might look great for that color palette you have in the Roman. It didn't end up working or, but this never any problem with that. That's just how he works. That's part of his,
Speaker 4 00:40:38 I think it's very easy to do someone's local. That's, that's great. You know, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:40:40 Yeah. I mean, but that's the best form of advertising, right? Like, as a happy customer that's proudly displaying your piece in their house. Yeah. When everyone he comes over, it's in like a great spot.
Speaker 2 00:40:50 Exactly. They're gonna be AP to talk more about it. When is
Speaker 1 00:40:52 This? Hell, that's Kelly's and you know, who is Kelly And having that, uh, you know, and then they go onto your Instagram page or your website and they find more out about, and maybe they get that connection too. And then, and it all starts from, oh, well I saw your piece at, you know, so-and-so's house or in one of these shows at one of the, like one of these local art associations. I mean, I feel like I've bought in a number of pieces from people. One, I see like the stuff here, but you know, also I'll see it in shows and people that I, that don't actually even come in here. There's a like one or two. Yeah, yeah. I'll see 'em in a couple shows or I'll see it and be like, all right, well at least I have that person in my mind. Cause like, I like their work and then try to get to those shows early to, you know.
Speaker 4 00:41:33 Yes. Right.
Speaker 1 00:41:34 To be the first online to be able to purchase some of this stuff.
Speaker 4 00:41:37 I think that's happened to both of us recently too. Or you saw something in a show that you wanted and didn't get it. I know it happened to me recently where I was like, I want that. And then I thought about it for a day. Yeah. And then it was sold and I was like, nah. Yeah. But next time I'll be quicker <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:41:48 Right. It's true. Yeah. It this thing with original paintings, you know, once it's gone, it's gone. So don't don't sit on it. Wait. Exactly. You know, if you like it, there's a reason you like it, grab it. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:41:57 Yeah. No, that's a thing. I've, so I'm fortunate enough I get to hang a bunch of the shows too. So
Speaker 3 00:42:01 You get had
Speaker 1 00:42:04 Preview
Speaker 4 00:42:05 The preview before the preview
Speaker 2 00:42:07 <laugh>. We had that happen during our Christmas show. We had some people want this one piece and somebody had actually bought it, like the first day it went up and it had a tag on it. And they're like, wait, want it? It's like, well, it's gone. She's only got one piece in the show. I can't, you know. Right. And we had a, once that one sold, we were like, your piece already sold. Do you have something else you wanna bring in to put up in the show? Put something else. That one soul. It was like, okay, all right. So people are like, she's, I didn't think anybody would like this stuff. I'm like, again, it's all depends on what people are coming in to look. Right. That was a, a monthly crew show. A little bit of everything, you know, all in the smaller sizes. But that's when people were, especially during the holidays and were actually
Speaker 4 00:42:40 That was a great show. That was a great show there. Something for everyone in that show. I like that very much. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 1 00:42:44 Yeah. Yeah. Another Feather and Dino Scap. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:42:46 <affirmative>. Yeah. That
Speaker 2 00:42:47 With that. Yeah. I mean, it's a hard thing to find original art for decent price <laugh> in an area where you can
Speaker 3 00:42:53 Get outside and lovely framed already. Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 4 00:42:56 So that would be ready to gift
Speaker 3 00:42:57 <laugh>. Right. Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:42:58 Well, we've talked about you guys putting stuff on other people's walls. What's on your guys' walls? That's a subject we like to touch on with everybody. What's your favorite piece one of each of you guys have on your
Speaker 3 00:43:06 Wall. This is like where you might have to edit. I'll have to find
Speaker 4 00:43:08 The,
Speaker 3 00:43:10 But I did buy a piece from last year's, the social art art center, like the gala night. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the, um, they're big show. Yeah. And it's in my living room and I love it.
Speaker 1 00:43:20 Nice. There's uh, is that the, the preview before their festival
Speaker 3 00:43:24 Or It was at the festival? Yeah, it was the,
Speaker 4 00:43:27 We went to the festival party.
Speaker 3 00:43:28 Yeah. The party. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> one in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was like one of my first like, kind of investment pieces, I guess. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, yeah. But I love it. And
Speaker 1 00:43:37 Who's the artist?
Speaker 3 00:43:38 That's what I gotta, I gotta look at our, I gotta What's the edit?
Speaker 2 00:43:41 Edit What's, you said it was like a turquoise color. What is it? Like
Speaker 3 00:43:44 Abstract. Yeah. It's very abstract. It's oil. It's 36 by 36. Probably
Speaker 2 00:43:49 Also decent size. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:43:50 It's good. Yeah. It's a big size too, but it just caught my eye and then I visited it a few more times and
Speaker 4 00:43:55 Yeah. You liked it that night? I first met it <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:43:58 I'm trying to remember who. Some of the pieces, it wouldn't have been like Paige Rails back or, no,
Speaker 3 00:44:02 It's not, not
Speaker 1 00:44:03 36 by 36 in like those turquoise
Speaker 3 00:44:06 Color. Oh. I feel like little, no, I feel like she doesn't have an Instagram, so I don't know where,
Speaker 4 00:44:11 Like, I just saw her work somewhere recently and I was like, oh, that's the artist that Kelly bought the nice painting <laugh>, but I can't remember it either.
Speaker 3 00:44:18 I actually, but I hadn't met her at the social art. I think we took, took class together too, like years ago to
Speaker 4 00:44:23 Oh, nice. That's nice.
Speaker 1 00:44:24 Yeah. That festival's good. We just, that was the guy, uh, was it? I'm trying to remember his real name. Pro Black. Oh yeah, Rob. They Rob, uh, oh
Speaker 3 00:44:33 Yeah. Rob
Speaker 1 00:44:34 Gibbs. Rob Gibbs Rob. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He, yeah. That was an interesting show. I guess I wasn't paying close attention. I didn't see you guys <laugh>. I, I, I, I was, I bought, uh, Nancy Claus's piece. Okay. That night. It was interesting to hear him talking. Yeah. You know, I mean, it was a unbelievable party. Right.
Speaker 3 00:44:50 Great. It
Speaker 4 00:44:50 Was great On my wall, which is interesting. I inherited a piece from my mom. Mm. That's a ros, far bush floral painting that has taken on more like sentimental value since then. I love the work. It was a painting my mom bought, and then both Kelly McDonald and Paula Villanova and a lot of their contemporaries were students of Roz. So there's like a full circle connection of like,
Speaker 1 00:45:11 Did you know Ross at all?
Speaker 4 00:45:13 I think I met her years ago through another family friend. Yeah. But I didn't know her well or personally.
Speaker 1 00:45:18 Did your mother paint with Roz or just like,
Speaker 4 00:45:19 My mom was like, just know her mom. My mom did not paint. My mom was creative in many other ways. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but she did not paint. She just loved the painting. Yeah. And had a friend who was another student of hers, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's a great piece that I sort of accidentally have, but has some full circle connection for him. Yeah. Group
Speaker 2 00:45:34 Of people Favorite something you grew up with seeing all the time,
Speaker 4 00:45:37 Or was it Yeah, she bought it when she didn't live with us. Oh, okay. Because she lived with us and it's mine now. Yeah. You
Speaker 1 00:45:42 Go <laugh>. So one, one of my favorite pieces at my house is done by Ross Ross's. Oh,
Speaker 4 00:45:46 Amazing.
Speaker 1 00:45:46 That's right. Yeah. She was unbelievable. She was a very interesting person too. Like I, again, that's like another person that I'm like fortunate enough to know she used to come buy French, like all frosted silver 22 profile. The
Speaker 4 00:45:58 Yes. That's exactly what, that's
Speaker 1 00:46:00 Exactly like, that was like her, you know, that was like, she would come in and like, she'd call me and order them and like she'd order like 10 at a time. And I'm thinking to myself, geez, how, what is she doing putting these to together? You know? Then they'd be recycled and they'd be paint all over the sides of some of 'em. Um, but yeah, she was like super interesting. I That's cool. The piece of in page I know was a, uh, you know, student art. There's so many people Yeah. Took classes from her and the trips to, was it somewhere in Mexico? Yeah, but I have a piece of hers. It was, uh, like the back of a police officer that I bought. And when I bought that at the point where I bought it, it was definitely like a stretch for me to like Yeah. To pay for it. And I see so many of her pieces. We still see people come in and bring them in and I'm, uh,
Speaker 3 00:46:45 I actually have a piece that my dad painted now that I'm thinking of it too, but he used to paint, like he used to go down in the basement and watch Bob Ross and paint all, all the time. So I had some like in my room as like a kid. And then, yeah, I have a piece that's like framed. And then another piece that I love is actually when I went to Cuba, there was like an outsider art fair. So it was like just people that just paint. They're not like, uh, going up school or anything. Yeah. Yeah. So I have like this, it's super bright colored, it's like a chicken and an egg. And I, I love that painting too. So,
Speaker 2 00:47:19 Oh, I say it's like, you know, artwork can invoke either place. You were a memory. Totally.
Speaker 3 00:47:23 Totally. Yeah. We always try to collect something from travels and things like that. Not necessarily a painting, but like an something art piece. Like a wood carving. Yeah. Or things
Speaker 2 00:47:31 Like that. That's one of the great things about working here. We get to see so many interesting pieces come in from different, right. Different materials. Yeah. You know, from painting on bedsheets and pillow cases. So, you know, full on hand carved dried leather that, you know, came from there. Okay. You know, far like, you never know what you're gonna have walk through. Right. And every time we think we've seen it all, we get somebody throws a curve ball at us and
Speaker 4 00:47:52 You know, she, some shoes I need to get framed.
Speaker 2 00:47:53 Yep. We've got couple of 'em. <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:47:54 That's from the back from the days of No,
Speaker 3 00:47:57 They're not
Speaker 4 00:47:58 Designed. Yeah. No, my best friend from childhood, um, worked for the UN for years and brought me a pair of like children's shoes. I believe they are from, she's gonna be mad at me now. I think they're from Libya. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But their children's shoes, like, they're beautiful. They're absolutely like handcrafted, beautiful, tiny mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Oh, very cool shoes. And I've been meaning to bring them in to be framed. So I'll do that <laugh>. Perfect.
Speaker 1 00:48:19 We've definitely framed shoes.
Speaker 2 00:48:21 Oh, I know there's catalog in there of uh, really old images. We can show you some different variations of once we framed ups.
Speaker 4 00:48:26 Fun. I need to get them up. We
Speaker 1 00:48:28 Can even do 'em in such a fashion. If you wanted to take 'em out and put 'em on you <laugh>. No, no, no.
Speaker 3 00:48:32 Wouldn't <laugh> little a
Speaker 2 00:48:34 Locking? Just a little. Just the toe. Just for a little time. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:48:37 Awesome man. Well I'm excited you guys came by. Think that this was, uh, awesome. I still have like plenty of questions and would love to get feedback, like the pieces you have behind you. Anything that you could tell us about or, I
Speaker 4 00:48:52 Don't wanna put you this spot. I can, I can tell you about my painting here that's behind us.
Speaker 1 00:48:55 This one is actually, I think I was like leaning towards like a few of which ones I like the best. And this one's kind of the one I'm leaning at at the moment.
Speaker 4 00:49:04 So I did this painting actually in a workshop that we did together. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I dunno if you were there that day, but Kelly told us we could only paint with one color. Okay. Ah. And I resisted <laugh>. I said no, no. I was like, I don't wanna do that <laugh>. And I rebelled against it and I didn't wanna do it and I was a little bit grumpy about it because I do rely on color so much in my process. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I love color and I love the mixing and that part of it. And I didn't wanna just mix ultramarine blue with black and white. That sounded so
Speaker 2 00:49:36 Terrible. It's one color category. Right. It's all in the blue tones.
Speaker 4 00:49:39 Sure. But then I did the painting and then I was like, okay, I like the painting. Yeah, fine, fine. You were right. <laugh> <laugh>. I struggled in the beginning. I didn't want to do it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then I ended up really enjoying it. Yeah. And appreciating just the value and texture and things that maybe get lost when you put more focus on color. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:49:58 And I feel like you learned something from this painting cuz like some of the style with the big black, like repeats that huge piece that you, the one you downstairs,
Speaker 2 00:50:05 That's the yellow one I likes on the wall downstairs.
Speaker 3 00:50:07 Yeah. But like, you probably learned those
Speaker 4 00:50:10 Pieces harder from me. Yeah. And that black and white one downstairs. Yeah. I think I snuck a little color on at the end because I Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:50:16 That. Yeah, there's definitely some like pink shimmer and some green
Speaker 2 00:50:19 Underneath. Subtle,
Speaker 4 00:50:21 But again, blankets in there. Yeah. Any fundamentals of painting. Like it's good to do a palette cleanse once a while. Oh yeah. It's good to take away all the things that you rely on and just go back to basics and do more monochromatic or black and white piece. And they often surprise me that I do like them in the end. Right. Even though it feel resistance in the beginning. So Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:50:38 Like piece downstairs a lot too, you know. What was you've saying you saw in that one
Speaker 2 00:50:42 Scott? So for me, that one that has the black and it's the larger piece that's downstairs to me, it looks like someone's standing in a, something like a kitchen. Yeah. Off into looking into like a fully opened room from a open concept kitchen into a living room. The pink that you were saying. Yeah. Actually takes on like this phantom amount line of a mantle and uh, fireplace to me like you're standing in a kitchen, all the lights turned out, everything's black, that room is lit up. Mm. So it's all shadow in one room and then you're going into a room full of light and a lot of color and everything. I
Speaker 4 00:51:11 Can't wait to go look at it.
Speaker 2 00:51:12 I stare at it every day. Cause I sit right across. I'm like desk. I see it. It's, it's like, it's all I think of when I look at it. It's just like,
Speaker 3 00:51:18 Well that just goes to show like how much depth that she can create mm-hmm. <affirmative> with just like those simple colors and simple shape layers. Layers so much depth. Right. That you can see a whole entire room.
Speaker 2 00:51:28 Yeah. It's, it's just funny how something like that'll pop into your mind and that's all you can see. That's just, you
Speaker 1 00:51:32 Know, that's why I, yeah. When I was looking, look it, like me and Scott were, you know, we are fortunate enough to hang around in a frame store with Arthur
Speaker 3 00:51:39 Regularly
Speaker 1 00:51:40 Just so we can discuss these things. I, that one, the first thing I thought of was like the kind paintings in the, like one of the Klein painting isn't the MFA where he is got like the, those like really heavy black brush. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:51:51 <affirmative>, but his are just like on a rock canvas. Yeah. And it's all about the black. Yeah. But that's hers have like so much
Speaker 1 00:51:56 More taste. Yeah. More. Yeah. Yeah. Hers is about But that, that was you. That was what I you sorry. And it, and then it interesting to hear like, you know, to have something in your head and then you're discussing it with a colleague or Right. You know, somebody whose opinion you respect a lot and to hear how they interpreted, you know, the same type of
Speaker 4 00:52:14 Thing. That's what makes it fun is you can see different things or fields of things.
Speaker 2 00:52:17 Well that's what I love about it. There's just so many different things you can, like you said, you can see things so many different ways, which is great. You know,
Speaker 4 00:52:23 I wanna hear about this one too. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:52:24 So I used to like, not title anything. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, like I, I don't know, maybe that was like a mass art thing, but nobody titled anything. Everything was untitled. So I just,
Speaker 2 00:52:32 That's sometimes the hardest part of the piece
Speaker 4 00:52:33 Is untitled.
Speaker 3 00:52:34 This is, no, this is actually titled Pressure Drop, which is like a Jimmy Cliff song. Okay. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, but sometimes I'm not thinking about that beforehand. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, like I kind of,
Speaker 1 00:52:42 You still have a lot of references to music and a
Speaker 3 00:52:45 Little bit.
Speaker 1 00:52:45 Is that important to you when you're, when you're They're in the process though.
Speaker 3 00:52:48 I used to listen to so much music when I painted where I feel like now I'm like, I'll either like listen to like a podcast or even like a book or something. Yeah. Um, cuz it's like quiet, you know, quiet in the time and things like that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I've had a lot of fun with the titles lately. I feel like I kind of enjoy making the titles. Yeah. And usually it is like afterwards like I'll look at the piece cuz again, with our kind of style and way we approach it, I don't think there's like a preconceived like, vision of what's going happen. Yeah. When
Speaker 4 00:53:19 You come. My title mine after too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:53:21 <laugh>. When you come up with that title, do you feel like you're trying to guide the viewer to
Speaker 3 00:53:25 Like, it just remind It reminded me of that. I don't know, it just reminded me of that like even like literally kind of like the droplets and things like that mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then not just, just kind reminded me of that kind of feeling and that kind of like type of music flow too. I think we definitely had to do heaven. I'm remembering, well maybe one of my first abstract paintings like in my basement was like doing it to like a Bob Baley song back in high school or something. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:53:54 I feel like I can see like a head or, you know, but I also feel like you can, feels like a, you know, with some of the shapes almost like a like cityscape or,
Speaker 3 00:54:03 Or like Yeah. Or some like kind of music vibrations, things like that. I have definitely referenced like a landscape a lot. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and um, even like, just like drawing from life or like drawing and traveling. I was gonna say
Speaker 2 00:54:15 I get a very abstract still life kind of feeling from a lot of pieces. Almost like, you know, a bunch of items, like bunch of different bottles or vs.
Speaker 3 00:54:21 Or
Speaker 2 00:54:22 Like, that's just the impressions I get from it when I look at 'em. This one that looked to me like it was just like, I don't know, it was um, almost looked like a shopping cart of Okay. Overflowing boxes and everything. Like just a fully packed cart, you know, as you're leaving the supermarket kind of thing. It's just, again, that's where my mind went when I saw it. It was a lot of red.
Speaker 1 00:54:38 You were hungry that
Speaker 2 00:54:40 A lot of red is a lot of red on a lot of labor
Speaker 1 00:54:42 Shopping.
Speaker 3 00:54:43 Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:54:44 Exactly.
Speaker 3 00:54:45 <laugh>, that's like design 1 0 1.
Speaker 2 00:54:47 Exactly. Right. That's what McDonald's does so well. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:54:50 Exactly. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:54:53 Awesome. Well again, I think that hearing those stories behind them and like knowing what the artist thinks or like what people think when they view things is like a, just such an interesting thing.
Speaker 2 00:55:03 Well I think we have our cover photo for the uh Yeah. Podcast episode. Will you cut two pieces? We'll yeah, absolutely. That way people have a reference for if they, they see this first, that'll be the first thing they're introduced to and then they can hopefully view everything else in the gallery. Oh
Speaker 1 00:55:15 Yeah. Great. I will certainly have tons of stuff up for people to get visuals. I know
Speaker 2 00:55:20 We're already all the socials
Speaker 1 00:55:21 Pushing you guys on social media. We'll be continuing to do that, but awesome. People wanna see your stuff.
Speaker 3 00:55:26 Kelly Russo Art art
Speaker 1 00:55:27 Com.com And kelly
Speaker 3 00:55:29 Brodrick art.com. Nice.
Speaker 1 00:55:30 There we go. Nice. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:55:32 I tell you something for keeping it simple,
Speaker 3 00:55:34 It really is totally.
Speaker 2 00:55:35 Somebody's looking for it. You know, you're throwing these random things and it's like Right.
Speaker 1 00:55:39 You guys always want more followers on Instagram. Sure. Yeah. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:55:42 Yeah. Can't hurt. She,
Speaker 2 00:55:43 You'll have to get all your
Speaker 3 00:55:44 Links at it. It's like Kelly underscore russo underscore art as my Instagram.
Speaker 1 00:55:49 Yeah. And we'll have links for all that stuff. Like perfect. You know, when we put the podcast up. Exactly. I'm sure that,
Speaker 2 00:55:54 Uh, yeah, we'll link that to the main site and the main site will have links to everything else for you. Awesome. So awesome. Wonderful.
Speaker 1 00:55:59 Thank you. And then maybe Claude will follow up, try to get some pages for, cause we're trying to like have that
Speaker 3 00:56:03 Whole Yeah, Claude makes fun. We're trying to, I was like I can't
Speaker 1 00:56:07 Do that. We're trying to get like pages set up on the website too to link to like artists that we have connected to like, almost like, just like a pass through from our site to get to your site. That's great. Your social media. So
Speaker 2 00:56:19 Yes. Yeah, like we were saying, trying to build that central hub of the social artist just so that you know, there's a listing of everybody's amazing for one. Yeah. People come to us all lot the time. They're like, do you know any portrait artists or do you like four us? Lemme go check the bulletin board. Let me see whose cards up here. Cuz off the top of my head, you know. Yeah. Maybe I don't remember. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:56:34 Having a point of referenceing.
Speaker 2 00:56:36 We have a
Speaker 1 00:56:36 Show you, there's so many artists that come in here too. Yeah. And then like, I dunno, I mean I've had this conversation with Caitlin who was in the last podcast who was a portrait photographer and you know, recommended her to my friend Mike, who's also an artist, but like, cuz he needed a senior portrait done. And it's like, you know, we're almost like a go between cuz we have like tons of people that come in that are looking for art. You have tons of artists that come in and so Right, right. You know, almost like pairing them up by giving artists an opportunity to like feature work or having to be able to introduce them to people that are obviously interested in framing art, which probably means they're interested in art in general. Right. It just seems like a natural fit. That's
Speaker 3 00:57:16 Great. Yeah. We're it's so generous with your like time
Speaker 2 00:57:20 And we enjoy it. That's half the battle that's
Speaker 1 00:57:23 He's
Speaker 2 00:57:24 Doing. He's
Speaker 1 00:57:25 Not exactly, he's not complicated when you're actually, you know, interested in Totally like en enjoyed, you know, seeing and, you know, working with this stuff, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Well I'm excited you guys stop by and I can't wait for a Thursday night. See what kind of crowd comes in. I'm sure there's gonna be a lot more, uh,
Speaker 2 00:57:39 Hoping everybody to check card shows up. <laugh>. Right. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 3 00:57:44 Yeah. Yeah. This is great.
Speaker 2 00:57:45 Thank you. Well, I want to thank everybody for listening with us today and we'll see you next time. All
Speaker 1 00:57:49 Right. See ya.
