Meet Dusty Kinman | Palette Knife Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dusty Kinman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dusty, what do you attribute your success to?
I am a third-generation palette knife, landscape artist. The most important factor behind my success is keeping my family’s legacy alive

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a palette knife artist, who paints with only one knife. My grandmother developed the technique in 1938 when she sold her first painting. She then passed her skill along to my parents in the 1980″s; when my dad lost his well-drilling job.

I use color to create the 3-D effect in my paintings and get this, I’m color-blind. I found out when I was 18 years old that I was color-blind, but that did not stop me from wanting to learn to paint.

I started my journey by following in the footsteps of my parents, who had already been in the art scene for more than a decade and had paved a well-lit path for me in the art industry. I entered and was accepted into the La Quinta Arts Festival in La Quinta, California as my very first art show. When that turned out a success, I started traveling with my parents to art shows in California on an annual basis. I was doing 22 art shows a year and enjoying life.

In 2008, my dad passed away. He was playing “I’ll Fly Away” on stage, at an Old Time Fiddler’s convention and he flew away. It was a brain aneurism and it was very sudden. My mother and I then started painting together and traveling to art shows as a duo. Until my mother also passed suddenly of a massive heart attack in 2014. I was then a solo talent.

I continued traveling and entering art shows. but one thing that I do that my family never did as artists is teach. I teach art classes to all ages and learning levels. I have taught in schools and art centers. I also teach private classes.

I am currently featured in the Mainview Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Olaf Wieghorst Museum and Western Heritage Center in El Cajon, California. I opened my own gallery in Wickenburg, Arizona in 2018. but was forced to shut its doors in 2020 and now I do most of my art sales online and through privately, commissioned work.

I married my wife and now business partner, Rachel Kinman in 2021, she is currently learning to paint and we have pivoted our art business by venturing into interior decorating, private and local art shows, and am currently partnered with Vulture City Ghost Town as their resident artist. I have four children that live in Oregon, and I am what I call a starving artist in a dying art.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have to say, I am more of a back-road, country, car ride person. I have had family and friends visit Arizona since moving here from Oregon and have shown them all of Wickenburg, the Grand Canyon, Scottsdale, and gold-hunting adventures in the Vulture Peak area. I like to cook at home with freshly grown, local ingredients, so I don’t get out much.

I have a friend and business partner, visiting next month and I plan on showing her Sedona, Vulture City, and the farmland that we are planning to plant this fall. I will be cooking home-cooked meals and farming fresh vegetables for my family and friends visiting from now on. Self-sustainability is important to me.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My Grandmother, Florence Sackett, and my parents, Kerry and Linda Lee Kinman. They have taught me all I know about painting and I want to carry on their legacy

Website: kinmanartstudios.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kinmanartstudios/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kinmanstudios

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr8pIFvvzaGWb9SXf2qj3DA