For checking out another amazing artist that is going to be showcasing their artwork at For the Love of Art fair, I have Kimiko with me.

Your artwork is absolutely beautiful.

How long have you been painting?

I mean, this is like.

I mean, this is obviously you are trained, you know what you're doing and I mean, you've probably been in this for a long time.

Yeah, a long time is is what I would call it.

Since I was a child, actually.

Yeah.

I just found art to be my thing I wanted to do in college.

And I found out that, you know, that may not be the best moneymaking route.

So my advisor told me to not pursue art, but to try something else.

And so I just painted in the moonlight, basically.

And that's what I've been doing for the last, you know, 30 plus years.

And now you're showing him.

And I'm like, at best, what would you do?

But let's talk about some of the influences that have influenced you over the years to create your artwork.

I get influence from everything and everywhere.

Nature specifically.

But honestly, my love is simple shapes.

They're really complicated to paint.

I don't use tape.

Usually.

I just try to get, like a circle and a and a shape, you know, just to look like what it is really not using, like a tool or a circumference.

I try not to, you know, I might start with that, but when you're actually painting, like, you know, it's your steady hands.

Yeah.

But the brush stroke landed right then I ended up with portraits, and someone had asked for one, and I was like, I've never really done portraits, but, you know, I'll give it a shot.

And when I broke the face down, I realized, oh, they're simple shapes, a circle and ovals and squares and, you know, so I ended up enjoying really doing portraits as well.

Talk to us about this piece since, this is one of your newer pieces that, for the love of art, it will be okay.

So if you want to catch this one.

Yes.

This piece was an interesting challenge.

I recently went through, a lot of loss last year.

The person who was part of my creative blossoming, as you can say, he influenced a lot of my art.

He passed away, and I was thinking that I would probably just not paint anymore.

There's no one to be proud.

But when I, I wrestled with it, and she did a lot of, like, encouragement, and I really I have to shadow her out for that.

She encouraged me to continue, and I just decided to pour a lot of my emotions into art.

So I usually try to challenge myself, but this time it was with color and like actual shapes.

So like breaking things down back to their basics.

I think with this piece I accomplished that the most.

I love that it's just simple lines and squares and rectangles, and of course it just comes together in this beautiful piece with dimension.

So I spent a lot of time with this one.

More.

More so than the others.

But yeah, this this piece is probably my biggest accomplishment because I feel like I completed something that I wanted to give up on just because emotionally I was I felt like I wasn't there.

Well, I'm proud of you.

I think you.

I'm sure lots of us are proud of you.

Well, I hope so.

That's beautiful.

Beautiful.

And it's so bright and so colorful.

And I think all of your artwork speaks to someone I. That's the hope.

So let's talk about.

I know that you have another piece out of here.

This kind of hiding.

Is this a finished piece?

Not quite now.

Not quite.

Okay.

This one's in process.

Okay.

But I can see what you're talking about with the different shapes.

You know, it's very bold in the end.

Yeah.

So, yeah, it seems simple.

Simplicity is the most complex thing to accomplish.

And to do it right without it feeling overly complicated or overly simple is one of my greatest challenges as an artist.

But, you know, I, I try to make objects that you can recognize using objects that you can recognize.

And the, the play on that is very interesting.

It does drive me a little crazy.

And so I tend to be a little OCD and maybe a bit too much of a perfectionist, but yeah.

And I was checking out one of your particular series, the balance series.

You want to talk about that?

Because that was really cool concept on how you know, you're building those shapes.

And I thought, I think it's very interesting that you're saying, like, I didn't measure anything.

Like you just balance it.

Yeah.

It has to feel right in my gut.

The balance series specifically, I wanted all the shapes to look like they were bouncing on top of each other, almost like a 2D sculpture.

And, that was the year I lost my father.

So I had created, like, a a a whole series around just can you get something to still fit and not bother you even though you want it to?

It's bothering you.

So I tend to do a lot of introspection with my art.

It's mostly self-exploration and I find it resonates with other people.

That's a bonus.

It does.

It doesn't use a lot of color.

So I'm looking at some of your samples over here too, and everything is very bright.

Well, this series specifically, I went bright on purpose.

Okay.

That's intentional.

Can I get this out of the way?

Yeah, you sure can.

I, I, I wanted to experiment with range, and I find that in order to do that, you really have to go all the way in.

So obviously this is orange and red.

This is greens.

This one is the kind of the hodgepodge of everything.

And this one was blues.

So I did a lot of, experimenting with mixing colors.

I generally would stay within a certain color palette because it's easy.

But what's my biggest problem?

Like when I try to paint something and then I run out of the color that I've mixed together and like, what do I do now?

Exactly right.

So I ran out several times, but I had to mix and mix and mix to still get the colors that I wanted.

So that was my challenge with these.

And they they are bright, but for the most part, this was what I wanted to accomplish.

Like, can I get purples in the reds and can I get yellows in the orange?

Let's make it actually look like that.

Can I ask you a piece like this?

Like, how long does this process take from beginning to end?

Like the thought process?

Yeah, create, especially with children.

Right and right.

It takes a while.

I break my process down into phases.

So I'll start with the background.

If I can just get the background done one week, I will do that.

Then the next week I will start on the sketch.

So if I can get the sketch done then I will move on.

Then the next week I will lay like the gold pieces.

Which is kind of a process because I never really know what it's going to end up looking like.

It just kind of apps, which is the beauty of art.

Yeah.

And then finally I'll block color and then layer color.

So the layering takes a good three and a half weeks because it's acrylics.

So they dry really flat.

They're not very bright.

And so I'll start with a base and another coat another coat.

And that's how you get what you want I love it.

Do you have maybe your proudest moment as an artist that you wanted to share?

I think I'm hard on myself.

And so recently in 2025, with all of the stuff that's been going on, I think what I decided to do was map my emotions out.

And it sounds crazy, but I work hard, stop when I think I'm overthinking or going too far.

And I think that was my proudest moment as an artist.

I feel like that's where I've matured the most.

I grew up and said, enough's enough, you're doing great.

Just stop.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much for showing.

I guess some of your artwork, you'll have pieces available, but for the love of art fair and prints.

Fine art prints.

Oh, wonderful.

To.

I remember the edition.

Limited edition.

All right, don't forget to stop by her booth.

All right.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Oh, one thing I would like to mention, I will be having a 20% off sale on the first day only.

Oh, perfect.

So you kind of get through that first?

I get that that first day.

All right, all right, we'll do that.

Thank you.