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courtney khail

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Courtney Khail | Southern Watercolor Artist (photo by Elle Golden)

Hi, I'm Courtney.

I'm a Southern contemporary artist currently living in Athens, Georgia with my husband and our rescue mutt. Here you'll find a peek into what inspires me, new pieces I'm working on, and a whole lot of random thoughts. (Oh! And for those curious, my last name is pronounced “kale”.)

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I wish you could see this one in person- the depth and details and layers are just remarkable. Framed in a gorgeous natural, maple frame, “Fruit Snack” is the featured painting for Day 6 of my 12 Days of Christmas Sale!

Seriously, it&rsq
This is one of my absolute favorites so I’m kind of surprised I’m letting it go! Created in part by melting “paint popsicles”, Day 5 of my 12 Days of Christmas Sale is: Balloon Animals!

Part of my Sugar & Vice Collection-
I see you swooning over there about my full color floral pieces! (I get it. They’re beautiful!) Well no more standing on the sidelines because today is your day to get one of those stunning pieces up on your wall.

Day 4 of my 12 Days of Christ
FRAMED original art for less than $400? Yep! All thanks to Day 3 of your favorite 12 Days of Christmas Sale. (Basically like the greatest advent calendar there is without any pieces of disappointing chalky candy.)

Today’s painting? ASHES No. 2
I wish you could see this one in person- the depth and details and layers are just remarkable. Framed in a gorgeous natural, maple frame, “Fruit Snack” is the featured painting for Day 6 of my 12 Days of Christmas Sale!

Seriously, it&rsq This is one of my absolute favorites so I’m kind of surprised I’m letting it go! Created in part by melting “paint popsicles”, Day 5 of my 12 Days of Christmas Sale is: Balloon Animals!

Part of my Sugar & Vice Collection-
5 reasons to shop local (and not just on small business Saturday, because once a year just doesn’t cut it.)

1)You know you’re getting something special and one-of-a-kind (hand written thank you notes, beautiful packaging, and absolutely
I see you swooning over there about my full color floral pieces! (I get it. They’re beautiful!) Well no more standing on the sidelines because today is your day to get one of those stunning pieces up on your wall.

Day 4 of my 12 Days of Christ FRAMED original art for less than $400? Yep! All thanks to Day 3 of your favorite 12 Days of Christmas Sale. (Basically like the greatest advent calendar there is without any pieces of disappointing chalky candy.)

Today’s painting? ASHES No. 2


Dreams In Color: Orange by Courtney Khail

Dreams In Color: Orange by Courtney Khail

Inspiration for Dreams In Color

October 15, 2018 in From the Studio

If you follow me on Instagram you might remember me talking about how my newest body of work was inspired by a dream I had- hence the name Dreams in Color. And while that is true, it’s not the whole story.

You see, the idea behind the compositions and the technical aspects of the paintings (the line work mixed with expressive pools and swashes of watercolor) did come to fruition because of a dream. That is actually where the majority of my inspiration comes together- either from a dream directly or those kind of twilight-y half asleep/half awake moments right before you fall asleep.

(I’ve tried to get better at capturing these as they happen and either text myself somewhat coherent thoughts at midnight-2am or sketch something quickly in the notebook next to my bed. Personally, I prefer the text. Why you might ask? Because otherwise I’m sketching by moonlight. And while that might sound all romantic and artsy, it’s not. It’s more because if I turn on the light I will fully wake up and have a hard time falling back asleep. As someone who needs 8 hours of sleep in order to be a fully functioning member of society instead of an overly emotional grouch, I just draw in the dark. Again, just to make sure I am not overly romanticizing this process, keep in mind that these drawings are not just completed without light, but I’m also not wearing my contacts. So basically what I’m trying to say is that when I draw my dreams/thoughts out, I am just blindly scratching something onto paper in the middle of the night, which I then have to try and decipher the next morning. Sometimes I’m successful, and sometimes I’m not. Hence why I prefer my texts. Cryptic or not, they at least have words that kind of go together.)

Well that was an unexpected tangent. Back to the series inspiration.

So although the compositions and colors (sometimes) are brought about by dreams, the ideas behind the series (i.e. what the paintings actually mean) all tie into the overall theme of my art.

If you’ve read my artist statement, then you already know that my work explores the complexities and juxtapositions within people. Specifically women because that is my personal experience.

I focus on flowers because of their metaphorical talents. Flowers have this amazing ability to mimic and portray the full gamut of human emotions. Just shifting a petal or varying the level of life in a bloom can evoke a sense of emotions and storytelling that I could only dream of putting into words. Flowers are also incredibly resilient yet fragile- a quality I find in many women (myself included.) That level of strength paired with vulnerability is a theme that continues to present itself in my work, and it’s one that I welcome with open arms.

Specifically with Dreams in Color, I wanted to explore the idea of finding and becoming your true self. The person you have always believed yourself to be/wanted to be, even if (or particularly if) you felt held back by expectations from society, friends, or family.

It’s about being vulnerable, but not weak. Strong, but not cold. Empowered, but maybe still cautious. It’s about having the courage to be yourself even if you don’t have it all figured out, or even if parts of yourself contradict other parts of yourself and you find yourself living less in the concrete black and white and more in the complexities of the grey.

It’s about breaking free and being who you want, even if (or especially if) it’s hard- and then celebrating that person.

And just to wrap this up on a fun note (and because I saw this episode a few days ago and it made me laugh/speaks to what I’m saying about finding your true self) I leave you with this:



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