Let's Talk About Art: Inspired by woods and critters

Critter That Ate Penn Hills by Kathleen Zimbicki

Kathleen Zimbicki grew up in an artistically inclined family. While most of her siblings' talents led them toward music, she struggled to find a niche there. Ms. Zimbicki played second fiddle, violin, alto ocarina and sang alto but felt that she didn't quite measure up to her siblings.
Then she found art.
"Coming from a competitive family, I had to do something well," she says.
When she first began drawing, she preferred sketching images of women in pretty dresses and interesting outfits. Ms. Zimbicki says this interest blossomed because Barbie dolls had not yet been created. Soon she was drawing and painting all the time.
"I drew or painted on anything that was available, even Daddy's books," she says.

The environment she lived in as a child influenced much of her current work.
"Growing up in a small town in Washington County, with a wooded area on three sides, gave me time to play and dream," says Ms. Zimbicki, who now lives in Carnegie.
She says the woods and critters that surrounded her house still inspire some her artwork today. Pieces such as "No One Under 30 Eats Fish," "Green Rapture," "Midnight Circus," and "Jake's Lizard" are just a few of her nature-infused works.
In "Jake's Lizard," Ms. Zimbicki uses a variety of bright colors and intricate patterns to detail a close-up of a lizard. Her use of varied colors and patterns emulate through all of her work and illustrates a sense of playfulness in her art.
"Children love my art because it is childlike. Everything is usually pretty happy," she says.
Ms. Zimbicki is currently the proud president of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and is excited about this year's ARTrageous centennial celebration.