Carmina Keifer

It all started with a wine and paint party at work the day before Thanksgiving in 2017. I painted this terrible sunset on the beach; I propped it next to my desk and considered it an "at least I tried" effort. But after looking at my painting every day for a couple of weeks, I became curious about how to make it better. I turned to the most accessible teacher in the world - YouTube. My Secret Santa that year gave me some painting supplies, and over the winter break I practiced some more and slowly started becoming more confident.
About that time, my son Nick who is on the autism spectrum was struggling socially in school; my husband and I focused most of our time on helping him. Whatever free time I had, I spent painting. It was therapeutic; painting centered me and helped me be a more supportive and loving mom. Nick was my art critic, and he was never afraid to give "constructive" criticism!
My artwork started taking up a lot of space on my workstation. My colleagues were very encouraging and complimented me on my new hobby. My boss suggested I start selling my work - after all, sales and coupons aside, art supplies are still expensive. After some prodding I decided to post some pieces on Facebook Marketplace and made it known ...

"The Color of Love" at Art on 30th - February 2019
Alpine Art and Music Festival - April 2019