Kim Somverville | Perthshire Artisans

Kim Somerville

Kim is a mixed media artist working in acrylics, inks and collage using bold, striking colours and mark making. Her art work is a visual abstraction of what she sees as she’s painting, and subjects vary from landscape to city views to life drawing, always conveying her vibrant sense of energy.

Working from her home based studio in Auchterarder Kim’s artwork is available as originals, select giclee prints and cards.

Aesthetic

Drawing forms the foundation of Kim’s artistic practice, serving as a means to observe, consider, and connect with her subject on a deeper, more intuitive level. Using drawing to make visual and metaphorical discoveries, Kim finds inspiration in everything surrounding her, constantly exploring and gathering ideas whether from the landscape, imagined futures, or still life objects.

In her drawing language, Kim narrates with thread of line, shape and marks in an energetic and playful way, translating a subject in her own interesting and exciting style. Colour is key to Kim’s artistic voice, used to create spaces, feelings and environments that share a window on Kim's way of seeing and experiencing life.

Practice

Kim begins with drawings and colour studies, often sketched en plein air, which she combines with memories of the subject to then move it to a form of abstraction. This helps her discover shapes and connections which she then enjoys playing around with. Whilst experimenting in the development of a piece, Kim will often reference her wide collection of books on other artists’ work for inspiration and creative techniques to refine her next steps.

A constant questioning of flow, rhythm, and connection underpins her approach, as each mark and gesture carries a sense of history, contributing to how each piece evolves. Working primarily in acrylic and mixed media, Kim creates and integrates collage elements, merging paint and paper to push and pull the piece of work together. Her process is guided by intuition, allowing the work to unfold organically. It is a balance of instinctive thinking, creative energy, the confidence to paint with authenticity and expressing feelings through material, movement, and mark.