hello!
HERE'S A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
My name is Kyra Hinton, and I'm a Virginia-based artist, and stay-at-home mom living in the lush, green Roanoke Valley.
Specializing in an ink technique I've created and am developing, I am constantly exploring this art form (and others), pushing ever on towards new discoveries.
Some days I feel like an explorer, searching through the newest satellite photograph or topography map for inspiration. Other days I might as well be a mad scientist, tinkering away late into the night using chemically-reactant inks in a puddle on a piece of paper. And then there are some days that I'm sitting at the bedside of one of my artworks which is decaying before my eyes -- less than an hour into it's creation.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I think you might want to hear the story of how I got here.
how did i get here?
In November of 2016, I was feeling burnt out, and floundering. All of the creativity in me felt like it had no place to go, like it didn't matter. At this point I owned my own photography business of 9 years, and had been watercolor painting for 5 years as a hobby. I'd completed a few commissions for friends, but for the most part, painting was the thing I did for myself, for my own enjoyment of the process.
So what now? Did my art matter?
Was the world hearing me?
God met me in this place, and encouraged me to keep on, to keep flinging my soul out in the world in whatever tidbit I could.
One day, it would catch.
the moment
At the end of December 2016, I was experimenting with bits from a variety of mediums. This was not uncommon for me at the time (remember, floundering, looking for who I was meant to be as an artist.) My mom was there too, and as we played with paints and inks, I looked at the tiny fragment of paper I'd been working on, and gasped. Imitating an aerial photograph, icebergs and rivers and deep, dark oceans laid in that puddle on that piece of paper. Mom saw it too, and understood the look on my face. "You found it," she said.
The air stood still.
[Curious? You can read a bit more about the medium here.]
the whirlwind that followed
You see, as a photographer, and having grown up in the mountains, topography and aerial photography was my absolute favorite. I'd spend all my spare time scrolling pinterest, pouring over shots someone else had taken. I never could take them, of course. Oh, but now I could build the land just the way my imagination decided -- I could build it in a puddle and then photograph it, just like an aerial photographer might.
...one that got to create the world they were photographing.
I had no idea how new this was. It was unheard of, and people loved it. Within 2 months I was swamped with custom orders, and we launched our first Kickstarter campaign, "Ink the States."
And I had no idea, but that was just the beginning for us.
My husband is incredible, and he was the driving force behind the success of this new business. He has always been my biggest fan, and I would not have survived the year apart from him.
You can read all about what was accomplished in 2017 here.
so, what's a multi-media explorer..?
Well it might go without saying that in January of 2018, after 3 Kickstarter campaigns, over 100 completed paintings, and 2000 prints, I was feeling a bit burned-out. Yes, this was the medium that made me brave enough to be an artist, but it was my curiosity and ceaseless wonder that made me the artist I'd become. And that side of me will always want to try new things, to break the mold, push the boundaries, and see what can be discovered -- both about the world and ourselves. Thankfully, I gave myself the permission to explore, as did my incredible collectors, subscribers, and followers. Dabbling deeper into resin, fluid acrylic, and acrylic on canvas (something I swore as I child I would never do), I found that I often speak the same language no matter the medium. I explore and discover, but the new things I come back with echo the same themes, patterns, motion. It's my heart, my perspective, and my eye for the world -- and no matter how far I go, that's what I will always find.
In early March 2018, I launched my first collection, filled to the brim with variety that all echoed the same heart. This thrilled me, and caused the whisper of hope in my head to grow louder:
I am an artist.
In every glance, every breath, intake and output -- art.
what now?
I'm going to keep on flinging art and heart out into the world.
There's no promises on medium, or subject matter.
(Although I'm convinced I'll be painting mountains until I die.)
UPDATE: I've returned to inks now! (See them here)
And I may take a break from them again,
just to return with new inspiration and fresh life.
I'll keep on pushing the boundaries and limits,
even if just to prove to myself that I can.
There might even be another big Kickstarter campaign.
But mostly, I'll be looking.
Soaking it up, taking it in.
Running to the edge,
and coming back to tell the tale.
Eyes wide open,
“IF I WERE A PAINTER I DO NOT KNOW WHICH I’D PAINT,
THE CALLING OF THE ANCIENT STARS, OR THE ASSEMBLING OF THE SAINTS.
THERE’S SO MUCH BEAUTY AROUND US FOR JUST TWO EYES TO SEE,
BUT EVERYWHERE I GO, I’M LOOKING.”
