Made By Her Blog

“A lot of my inspiration comes from the beautiful scenery from all the places I see, it's the feeling that these places give me. The emotional connection to nature. It's pure, raw and unforgiving. When I sit down with a stone to start creating, it leads me in a direction. I try out different designs, and it's usually a hard no, or yes on whether it feels 'right'. I don't sketch out designs, I sit with the stone and let my feelings take charge. I'm a pretty emotional person, and for me creating this way is the absolute best!”

You never know what curiosity will breed. It starts with a dim light as though a match is about to burn out but, instead, gets bigger and brighter, little by little. Sometimes the light will fade again and go out completely, but other times it grows to be something that cannot be ignored. This was the case for Kiah Smith with Smithmade Essentials.

All of the paintings for this event were done on site. [We] had three and a half days to do enough paintings in order to turn in four paintings to be judged. We also had the option to turn in two alternate paintings so, if a painting sells, another could take its place. I actually did 13 paintings and chose my favorites to submit.