Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Getting to know Kimberly
1. Who is your hero?
The obvious heroes in my life would be my momma and daddy; however, Peter Pan is a VERY close competitor. Adulting is a trap and he seems to understand that on every level.
2. What songs are on the soundtrack to your life?
- The Nearness of You (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong)
- A Little Respect (Erasure)
- Dancing With Myself (The Donnas)
- Do Whatcha Wanna (Rebirth Brass Band)
- Fly Me To The Moon (Frank Sinatra)
- Hold On (Alabama Shakes)
- A Bushel and a Peck (Doris Day)
- What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)
3. What emoji do you use most often?
❤️ I’m sure you didn’t see that one coming… LOL!
4. If given the opportunity, what book would you write?
I would definitely write a children’s book, full of magical adventures and super adorable sea creatures.
5. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
My people. I definitely owe my life to them. I’ve tried to make sure they know how grateful I am for them.
6. How do you take your coffee?
Black and hot and ALOT. I get that from my momma and daddy.
7. How do you prefer to resolve conflict?
I believe with my whole heart that any conflict can be resolved with love, patience, and honest, respectful and direct communication without judgement. I prefer to do it this way, but I fail sometimes. I do understand that hearts are too delicate to endure hatred. It wasn’t built for that. But, for some reason, we dish it out everyday and expect everyone to just suck it up and deal with it. We need to do better in that department.
ADCTD (Part 3 of 6)
2022 - 20" x 24" - Acrylics and glazes - $550
"It is so strange to me how I can see someone totally different than they see themselves. how is that even possible? obviously, my perception is accurater than yours. what makes it so difficult for someone to see that and change their own vision? if we could install windshield wipers on eyeballs, I’d make sure you had a lifetime supply. but, none of that works because no one has developed windshield wipers for eyes yet. we have feet graters. gross. but we can’t have windshield wipers for our eyes. whatever. that’s so dumb. our clarity fades sometimes when we love someone that hard. I feel like maybe it’s like taking a hit of ecstasy or LSD. someone once sent me a video entitled “love is blind”. I think she may be wrong. because maybe it isn’t. maybe, just maybe, love can help us see really well, but it scares us. the whole time you wonder if this is really happening. is it real? it can’t be. how is it possible to have someone so perfect in your life and watch it disappear so quickly, just like your high from the ecstasy or LSD? so, then I think… oh, damn. maybe that wasn’t true. maybe, it was all a lie. wait… was she insinuating that I was blind to something? maybe this is where the addiction comes from. maybe it comes from your heart not matching your brain’s thoughts. maybe that’s why we get addicted to things. follow your heart. no, wait. don’t do that. use your brain! I think that’s where mine comes from. I am constantly trying to get my heart and brain to agree with each other. my problem is I listen to my heart over my brain. or is that really a problem? I mean, hearts are so much prettier than brains. lez be honest…"
ADCTD (Part 1 of 6)
2021 - 36" x 48" - Acrylics and glazes - $1850
"now that I have all of the sugar-coated trauma out of the way I can start recognizing what I have not fully understood until this point and start learning what to do with it... aaaaaahhhhh... the fuckery that we refer to as love... I'm clearly addicted to it. I don't feel like it's necessarily a negative addiction. and I am not looking to change that; however, I am definitely changing how I handle it and how I allow it to affect me. they say sometimes people only stay in your life for a season. I wish the seasons lasted longer. every time the seasons change, I get sick. I'm not good at being sick. and I'm even worse at letting people I love go. no matter how much I try to tell myself I am. and even when I tell myself how bad they are for my path. they could be the one square tire on my bus and I would still be like, "it's cool. it'll work itself out." love is a drug, for sure. it can kill you or it can heal you, like the right prescription. always give more than you take. the chances of being healed by it are far greater than being killed if we are more selective about the love we take rather than give."
"Charlotte AKA Sugar Nugget AKA The Nug AKA Nug the Thug... This is one of my "ride or die" babies. They are always with me and support every thing I do. They sometimes even wear paint in their fur!"
"This is my old man, Pink AKA Slobberface. He has been with me for 17 years and has never let me down. He prefers the bright paint, too!"
ADCTS (Part 2 of 6)
2022 - 20" x 24" - Acrylics and glazes - $550
"Addictions are hard to kick. especially when it resides in your heart… and even when you know it may or may not be bad for you… but, so is bacon. gross. also, who was the jerk face that decided all addictions are bad? as far as I can tell, that’s false. when I started this series, the only thing in my brain was “why?” why am I so addicted to someone who clearly, in my perception at the time, just wanted to play a game? why did I allow that to happen? You know why? because you cannot control your heart, no matter how hard you try. you can adjust your thoughts in your gray matter, but your heart? nope. not happening. and that is just one joy of being an overthinker. it’s kinda like when someone gives you an incredible gift. they put so much thought into it. but, when you receive it, you just see it as a waffle. like, dude… you just gave me a waffle. why? I mean, it’s a pretty awesome waffle, but why a waffle? why now? You see what I mean? does this paragraph make sense to you? of course it doesn’t. and that is how much sense it made to me to try to force myself to kick this addiction. none. I ain’t doing it and you can’t make me. when someone loves you and shows you that in every way, it feels amazing. when someone shows you what it feels like to be adored in every way, you don’t want that to end. this is the point when “want” turns into “need.” I’ve never been a drug addict, so I can’t say for sure, but I imagine this is exactly how they feel. they don’t think further down the road. they take for granted that there will be more when they need another fix. I will never take that for granted again. one more adulting lesson in the books, baby! being addicted to something is not something to be ashamed of. i mean, I’m not ashamed. when there is someone who makes you feel differently than anyone else ever has, in a good way, how is it possible that it’s bad? do I really need to waste my time trying to overcome that addiction if it isn’t hurting me? I have other things to do with my time and I actually like that those memories have set up camp in my heart. it’s actually enjoyable to think of those things on a daily basis. sometimes it’s the process of determining if an addiction is bad for you that sucks the worst. it’s hard. and right now, I can’t think of one thing that’s bad about it. now what? I think I’ll just try to figure out how to keep my syringe full for now."
ADCTD (Part 4 of 6)
2022 - 20" x 24" - Acrylics and glazes - $550
"I’m still not great at articulating what’s in my heart via the English language. the paint seems to do a better job at translating that for me. i realize it’s not the most effective form of communication for everyone; however, it’s what i have to work with. currently, I sleep in swing shifts. 2 hours here… 15 minutes there… I get way more sleep on the weekends. at least 3-4 more hours, anyway. it’s almost as if I’m living 2 different lives. one side is mathing all day at my big girl job and the other side is leaving little crumbs of my heart on multiple canvases at a time. I’m always working on something. and when I work, I think… have you ever loved someone so much that just breathing the same air as them makes your heart flutter? like, even just the air that whirls past you when they walk by is sprinkled with magic that you can actually feel in your soul… I’ve heard that snorting a certain white, powdery substance gives you that same feeling. apparently, it changes your psychological being, along with increasing your heart rate and other stuff and things… just like love…. and off to euphoria you go! you start hearing music differently… your food tastes better… you see colors more vividly… all of the things are magnified. again, I guess that’s what makes an addiction so hard to break. why would anyone want to quit something that makes them feel so good? yeah… I still don’t know. all I know is that I love hard. and I don’t think I was built to be any different."
Credits:
All images are provided by the artist.