\u201cLife imitates art far more than art imitates life,\u201d Oscar Wilde wrote long ago. But peer into Kelly Paige Standard\u2019s artistic world and one may beg to differ.<\/p>\n
Standard, a gifted oil painter from Talmadge, depicts life through her art. Narrative paintings and collectible portraits captivate life, love, grief and hope. Figures tell stories as faces, some hidden to be found \u201clike an Easter egg hunt,\u201d and tug at heartstrings. Portraits capture likenesses: \u201cSpot on,\u201d she said, \u201cso my art imitates, even preserves, pieces of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inspired by \u201cmood and emotion\u201d and drawn to a full spectrum of ideas \u201csmashed into a visually appealing narrative,\u201d Standard\u2019s paintings are orchestrated by hope \u2014 even though they may be rooted in grief.![\"From](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/web-RedEarAmelie.jpeg\")
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\u201cMy inspiration is driven by emotions too hard to express in any other way,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople call my paintings lonely but I infuse hope in every piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oils rich in texture scatter shadows Standard describes as solitary, mysterious, and at times penetrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut always piercing the truth and depicting the best parts of being human,\u201d she added. \u201cMy art exists alongside a million different interpretations. People see, experience and learn something new \u2014 maybe just about themselves \u2014 and live more of what they\u2019ve just discovered.\u201d![\"From](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/web-BlackRose-225x300.jpeg\")
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Standard never randomly starts painting. The artist uses a photo reference or an image generated from Photoshop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI arrange elements to make the portrait believable and paint until I get it right, no matter how long it takes,\u201d she continued. \u201cIf I can\u2019t pinpoint a facial expression spot on, I\u2019m not done. Connection is important for my work. With multiples portraits, there are multiple relationships. To paint the face, I trust the shapes I\u2019m looking at. I simply copy what God\u2019s already done.\u201d<\/p>\n
She spends hours painting posthumous portraits cognizant that family members will honor its reverent presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI paint portraitures that exceed expectations,\u201d she said, \u201cI don\u2019t mind the endless hours. I\u2019m lucky I love it. For over a decade, I\u2019ve held a difficult pace fueled by enthusiasm and determination.\u201d![\"From](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/web-Cakehead-Lady-226x300.jpeg\")
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Standard prefers mixing her own paint instead of \u201cpaint right out of the tube.\u201d Avocado Green is deemed her \u201cfavorite color in the whole wide world\u201d and prevalent in most of her work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a green baby and a sporto kid,\u201d she said. \u201cNever pink. Pink was all things girly and weak. I use lots of pink today because our choices far exceed what used to be only Barbie pink.\u201d<\/p>\n
The self-described night owl prefers to paint all night, noting that it grants her a really slow start to her day. \u201cI paint like a surfer rides a wave,\u201d she said. \u201cIf my foot starts to hurt, I suck it up and ride the wave. And yes, coffee is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 43 year old began painting at age 9, encouraged by parents who \u201crecognized and nurtured my talent\u201d under the tutelage of acclaimed oil painter Lela Harty.![\"From](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/web-Wishes-225x300.jpeg\")
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The college volleyball player earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California Santa Barbara and subsequently worked at the Robson Gallery, located in San Diego\u2019s Gaslamp Quarter. Surrounded by the likes of John Asaro, Walt Gonske and William Sharer, Standard\u2019s artistic aspirations blossomed as she learned how to manage a gallery.<\/p>\n
Standard\u2019s next foray into the business world included designing and digitally painting video games. Despite an 80-hour workweek, she always found time to paint. The tragic death of her 23-year-old brother Mark, also an artist, caused her to re-evaluate the corporate environment and transition out of that career path.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a full-time artist since 2003,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat an existence! No doubt, painting is a consuming career, but after losing Mark, life just seemed \u2026 My life as an artist deserved more than generating video games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standard openly admits to channeling her grief \u2014 compounded by the untimely death of her husband \u2014 through her art.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring my pain \u2014 my funk, I hunker down, radio silent, into a quarantine that protects everyone from me,\u201d she said. \u201cI simply disappear from life and disappear into my art. Painting contains my emotions. I no longer carry their weight because they\u2019re painted right on the canvas. I painted my husband\u2019s memorial portrait \u2014 \u2018David Joseph Beres\u2019 \u2014 in four days. I did nothing but paint.\u201d![\"From](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/web-mateo.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Standard shares a painful honesty about several narrative pieces. Her \u201cExit Fairy Tale\u201d show was replete with self-portraits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI painted \u2018Out of the Promised Land\u2019 because I felt like I was kicked out of my fairy tale after my husband died,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m made in the image of Alice in Wonderland struck out of her garden gate. I\u2019m a young widow wearing the wedding dress that my husband made although I\u2019m swimming in it because I\u2019ve lost so much weight. I included our initials \u2014 DJB and KPS \u2014 and painted faces in the roses. I even secretly hid his face in the painting as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another portrait depicts Standard wearing a V-neck vest worn by her husband the night of Standard\u2019s senior prom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me three years to host a show after my husband died,\u201d she said. \u201cMy husband was my partner, my best friend \u2014 my everything. We were together platonically on prom night, apart for 10 years, together for 10 and married for eight months. I never even had the chance to celebrate an anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever\u201d was the name of one painting because \u201cI felt like I was never going to celebrate a birthday again,\u201d she said. But with the passing of time, Standard introduced \u201cNever Better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough empathy is in all of my work, it\u2019s not always about pain,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been through enough to know how to draw a parallel. Every piece shares hope. I don\u2019t want to end up with claws holding razor blades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standard works \u201ca lot\u201d because ideas get \u201cstuck in my head\u201d compelling her to turn them into a narrative. The seasoned veteran is noted by critics for her \u201cgorgeous craftsmanship rich with intense colors and beautiful color schemes with strong pinks \u2014 and greens \u2014 that define her style.\u201d<\/p>\n Her recent painting \u2014 \u201cThe Reverence\u201d \u2014 harmonizes elements of the art masters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pose in my \u2018Reverence\u2019 painting is reminiscent of a John Singer Sargent piece,\u201d she said. \u201cThe contrast between the light and dark is a feature that Giorgio de Chirico played with; the background is inspired by Richard Stein greeting cards and his book of fun doodles, but mostly the piece stems from Kahlil Gibran, the author of \u2018The Prophet\u2019 who wrote, \u2018For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but it cannot fly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Standard added that she wanted the portrait\u2019s subject to look like she was toiling over something while holding the key to the cage and the ability to \u201clet it go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWords can\u2019t describe what painting means to me,\u201d she concluded. \u201cPainting makes me feel powerful. Painting is my funnel for emotion; a funnel for channeling pain and a funnel for channeling something beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014P\u00f3ngase en contacto con Luc\u00eda Viti en <\/em>luciaviti@roadrunner.com<\/em><\/a>. Kelly Paige Standard\u2019s website is found at kpstandard.biz<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Luc\u00eda Viti<\/p>","protected":false},"author":796,"featured_media":251280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"From the heart","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"From](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/web-MAIN-The-Reverence.jpg\")