Kim Knoll Art

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United States
Chicago, IL
Kim Knoll Art

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Nature-inspired paintings from an abstract perspective The shapes, colors, and perspective that I recall or imagine inform and guide each painting.

About The Work:

Inspired by landscapes and influenced by minimalism, I enjoy bringing the outdoors in through painting, in a beautiful, simple and unexpected way. My works on paper are an abstract interpretation of moments and sights from my time spent in nature exploring lakes, mountains, forests and coastlines through hiking and camping. I love living in the city of Chicago, but I often crave adventures in wide open lands that renew my spirit and make me feel at peace. I use these adventures as the inspiration for my work to provide others with a momentary escape from their everyday. Using watercolors, ink, acrylic, and graphite, I think of a positive memory or a landscape I loved and then translate what I saw and felt into paint using contrasting marks and textures. About Kim:

My style is heavily influenced by graphic design, which has been my focus throughout my schooling and career. It wasn’t until 2016 when I picked up a paintbrush for the first time, but only to experiment with watercolors for a new branding project. I fell in love with the medium and began exploring it as a personal project. Sharing my paintings on social media allowed me to get noticed by collectors, interior designers and art consultants, which has inspired, propelled and enabled me to pursue painting. Today, I partner with art consulting firms and interior design studios to produce commissioned paintings and prints for homes, hotels, resorts, retail stores, cruise lines, products and more. My most notable work can be found in The Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Yacht Collection, Four Seasons Hotels, Waldorf Astoria Hotels, Bellagio Hotel, 7 For All Mankind (Milan and Berlin), Celebrity Edge Cruise Ship, Norwegian Prima and Sky Cruise Ships, and The Spells Deck produced by Chronicle Books.

09/25/2026

September stills 🧘🏻

09/22/2026

Learn my complete system for getting your paintings on paper to lay flat for good, and mount them to wood panels for a unique presentation:

• Flatten Works on Paper
• Mount Paper to Panel

Over 800 artists have taken these courses and are loving them. Don’t believe me? Just read their reviews.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Comment LEARN and I’ll DM you the link.

09/18/2026

Measuring tape or tape measure? 📏

09/12/2026

Stills from a recent photoshoot with Jaclyn Simpson where AI had no part in it. Jaclyn came to my studio for a few hours and captured mostly candid moments of me in my space.

Prepping for this brought me back to my designer days, when I led a lot of photo shoots for our clients and our portfolio. Over the years I’ve learned what to do for a successful shoot that doesn’t waste the photographer’s time or your money:

✅ Give the photographer a creative brief ahead of shoot day that includes a list of things you like (candid moments, moody lighting, etc), things you don’t like (heavy filters, posed shots, etc), and 5-7 reference images that support your vision for the photos. Mine included natural light, motion blur, warmth, editorial-style, and candid/unposed shots.

✅ Think of props you might need and get them at least a week before the shoot to make sure it’s what you want. My props were minimal - I brought in a small sheepskin rug and one of my dining chairs from home.

✅ Make a checklist for you and your photographer ahead of shoot day that has must-have shots separated from nice-to-have shots so you both know what’s priority, and can check things off as you do them. It helps prioritize what order to do them in on shoot day.

✅ Let the photographer know how you plan to use the photos so they have context and can compose the shots accordingly. For example, if you need wide and narrow website banner shots that you know will have text on one side, they can account for this by off-centering the frame.

✅ Go into the shoot knowing whether you want horizontal or vertical shots, or a mix of both. For website banners or hero images, wide shots are best. For social media, vertical shots are best. I like to do a mix of both but with mostly horizontal because I can always crop the horizontal shots to be square or vertical.

😌 Once all that planning is done, you can relax and have fun on shoot day with no stress or worries

📸 I would love to see photographers comment below with their location and focus so people can look you up and maybe hire you for a shoot.

Save this post for a future shoot, or send it to someone who might be planning their own!

09/03/2026

It’s been two weeks since I had surgery on the wrist of my dominant hand. For over two years, I had a 2cm ganglion cyst in my wrist joint that was growing more painful with time. I had been wearing a brace to paint, couldn’t carry large panels anymore and my grip strength was weak. As you can see, I’m in a splint that has to keep my wrist straight for 6 weeks which helps the odds of it not coming back, then OT. I was told to not paint or lift anything heavier than 5 lbs during the recovery, but of course I’m finding ways around that. I spent the first week sleeping on the couch because it was too painful and tiring to do anything else, but this week I’m spending half days in the studio and doing some light painting with my left hand. It’s actually been really fun and interesting and to see how loose and uncontrolled my marks are, which is ironically aligning with my painting goals. I’m looking forward to seeing what discoveries come from this period, and to being pain free.

If you want to see the scar and what it looked like before the surgery, swipe right 👉

08/30/2026

A peek inside my new art studio ✨ My last studio was big and looked great in photographs, so a lot of people are surprised I left it. But what you didn’t see in the photos were the leaks in my unit every time it rained, a 96º bathroom in the summer, the noisy new tenants, and the unsafe conditions at the building. It became so distracting and unnerving that I couldn’t relax or concentrate, which was showing up in my work. I had to leave, and was thrilled to find this gem after looking at spaces for months. It’s brand new construction in an old warehouse building located in a great neighborhood, surrounded by people in the arts. And for the first time, I have a studio that’s walkable from my home. I’ve never been in such a fancy building, and I never want to leave 😌 I can’t wait to have you over for the next open studio!

08/29/2026

Celebrating 17 years of marriage with this babe.
We’re just two kids trapped in aging bodies, having a slumber party every day. Cheers to all the years Kyle Eertmoed and many more 🍻💞

08/29/2026

Celebrating 17 years of marriage with this babe. We’re just two kids trapped in aging bodies, having a slumber party every day. Cheers to all the years Kyle Eertmoed and many more 🍻💞

08/18/2026

Hi 👋 it’s Kim. It’s also August 18, which means exactly 10 years ago today, I started painting for the first time.

I’m thinking about everything that’s happened in the last 10 years, all of the opportunities I’ve been given, all of the people who have connected with my art, and for being able to still do this full-time. There are so many emotions and a lot has happened in that time.

Looking back at who I was then, how much I’ve failed and tried again, what I’ve accomplished, and how much I’ve learned - it’s been a wild ride. And so often, we focus on where we want to go that we lose touch with how impactful the messiness of getting there is. That’s the good stuff. That’s what makes life interesting. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that destinations are boring. You get there and then what? You reflect on all the crap you went through and those moments are what fill your cup. They’re what made you grow, laugh, cry and overcome. They’ve made you who you are today, hopefully a little more resilient, wise, calm or courageous. At least they have for me.

Just for fun, here’s a rapid fire list of 10 things I’ve learned over the last 10 years:

1. Making art is maybe 25% of an artist’s time. 35% is marketing it, 10% is emails/estimates/invoicing/scanning/file prep, 10% is bookkeeping/taxes, 5% is cleaning supplies/studio, 5% is packing/shipping, 2.5% is ordering supplies, and 2.5% is hauling things in/out.

2. The creative process doesn’t have office hours.

3. The way you paint is a reflection of how you feel in that moment. If you’re not in the right head space, it shows up in the painting.

4. You can’t wait to be found. It’s not going to happen. You have to put yourself out there.

5. Most people want to see you succeed.

6. Lift with your legs and bend with a flat back.

7. Mistakes often end up being the best part of the painting.

8. Comparison will make you feel lost. Only compare yourself to your past self.

9. New work takes about a year for people to connect with.

10. People love blues and greens. And when there’s a sale.

And no, I didn’t use AI to write any of this.

Cheers to 10 years! 🥂 🤍

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Chicago, IL

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http://kimknoll.com/

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