Beverly Kindred has been painting with a great group of women for nearly 30 years. The group, Sharon, Linda, Mary, Cindy, Kim, and Bev began painting by taking a class through Community Education, painting in oils, and using lots of drying medium. Although they’ve converted to acrylic, they have taken class after class together, and it has become known as a “girls night out”. These friends have always encouraged Bev to design her own patterns, and have watched as she creates one, then another. Bev says that they are her inspiration. She thinks that she’s found a niche creating patterns, and her dream is to publish a book of her own someday. These ladies truly enjoy each other’s company, and through thick and thin have kept on painting!
Bev’s painting space is small and messy, warm and cozy, and old and new. The space evolved when her youngest child (finally) moved out. It is now the painting studio/computer room, and on many evenings she and her husband Ed can be found sharing the space – she painting, and he on the computer.
According to Bev, painting should be fun, so relax and enjoy it. The beginning of every project is as important as the finishing touches. She believes in smooth surfaces, so that the floating can be it’s best. She stresses the importance of sealing wood, sanding, basecoating, sanding again, and basecoating again before transferring a pattern. Bev’s favorite painting tool is her set of Debbie Mitchell stipple brushes. She loves the way they allow her to get a soft but definite highlight. Another friend is her Loew-Cornell ¾” Angle Shader that she uses for floating – the bigger the better for Bev!
Bev would like to expand her knowledge and improve her drawing skills – possible take some classes.
Bev says that Myra Mahy and Renee Mullins are her favorite artists. She recently had the opportunity to visit Myra at her home studio, which started the wheels turning to create her own studio. Some of Bev’s favorite pieces she’s ever painted are some of the first of her own designs. It was around the same time that she purchased a scroll saw and began cutting her own wood. This made the pieces a little more a part of her.
Although Bev has never considered giving up painting, when she looks back at some of those first projects, she gets a good laugh. Painting is such a part of her life, when she’s shopping, or at work she’s always thinking about how she can take the day’s experiences and turn them into a new pattern. When Bev was a stay at home Mom with 2 small children, she spent most of her free time painting for fall and winter craft shows. For the past 16 years, she has been the “lunch lady” for a local elementary school.
Beverly and her husband, Ed have been married for 39 years. They have two grown children, Chris and Stephanie, and two beautiful grandchildren. Bev and Ed, who is retired, spend summers traveling with their trailer, which takes them on many adventures. Bev says that no matter where they go, she has her sketchpad with her. Bev’s favorite color is yellow; her favorite holidays are Halloween and Thanksgiving, because she loves all the fall colors and pumpkins. She enjoys a good old John Wayne western, country music, chocolate and a fresh Pacific Northwest salmon dinner.
When asked about her funniest or most embarrassing painting experience, Bev remembered painting a farm scene with a thin power line from the barn to the house with what was supposed to be a small bird perched on the line. Her thin line became a sagging cable, and the bird looked like a pterodactyl. Her painting buddies have never let her forget it, but her Mother loved it and it hung in her home for many years!
Painting has been in her life for so long, that the only thing Bev can remember doing before painting was diapers! She started painting before her youngest was even born, it has always been great therapy, and the support she receives from her husband, children, and the ladies she’s painted with is the greatest.
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