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August 12, 1999
Bucking the Trend – Why One Woman has Traded Big Bucks for the Artist's Life
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kathleen Elsey
805-569-0542
MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, August 12, 1999 -- While many Americans are becoming more firmly entrenched in the make-more-money, spend-more-money cycle that has become the hallmark of the 90s, Kathleen Elsey has quietly stepped off the wheel of fortune to lead a simpler – and more fulfilling – life as a fine artist.
"Just a year ago, I was still caught up in the business rat race," she says with a rueful smile. "I was pitching new clients, staying late at the office to make deadlines, taking red-eye flights to go on press checks. Now, when I get up in the morning, I think, ‘Should I take a hike before breakfast or just start painting early?’"
To look at Elsey’s exuberant, color-drenched paintings of California vineyards, Mexican fishing villages and the hills of Provence, you would never guess that for the past 20 years she’d been designing corporate identity programs, sales brochures and direct mail packages for dozens of Bay Area high-tech companies. Since 1984, she’d been the owner, manager, and creative director of Kathleen Elsey Design, Inc., a boutique graphic design studio in San Francisco’s trendy North Beach.
The moment of truth for Elsey came last fall, when a client called at midnight, while she was still at the office working late. "I sat there and stared at the phone. Instead of taking the call, I just burst into tears," Elsey says. "And I knew at that moment I had to make some big changes in my life." Although Elsey knew she was too young to retire – she also knew she had to find a way out.
After a lot of soul-searching – and networking -- she did. By early December 1998, Elsey had arranged to turn her clients over to another design studio nearby, making sure her one remaining employee got transferred as well. "As soon as I tied up the loose ends, I took off for seven weeks in Mexico, where I attended an artists’ workshop. I immersed myself in sun, sky, and landscape studies for weeks on end."
That was in January and February of this year, and since then Elsey has hardly gone a day without painting. "It’s my joy and my life right now," she says. "I can’t even imagine going back to the business world."
Of course, there’s the question of money. Elsey was pulling in big bucks at her design firm, and she admits that she was addicted to the good life. "To look at me from the outside, you would think I had it all," she says. "My closet was filled with designer clothes. I drove a Mercedes. I went to Paris and Provence every year. I ate out as often as I pleased. I never worried about money, because there was always enough coming in."
But, Elsey says, she realized after a while that the old cliché about money not buying happiness was true. "I can’t speak for anyone else, but even as I was enjoying the money, I was dying a slow death inside. I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do. The work was punishing. My stress level was off the charts. In the end, the money just wasn’t worth it."
Elsey had always painted on the side, but had never considered fine art as a viable career. She thought, "Nobody really does this for a living, do they?" Now, she says, she’s finding out that "yes, you can paint for a living, and you can make money."
These days, instead of sitting in the morning commute traffic to San Francisco, Elsey gets up, has a leisurely breakfast, and heads out to the winding country roads of northern Marin and Sonoma counties to paint. She works "en plein air," meaning that she composes her landscapes on the spot, working for hours outdoors until her painting is almost complete. "It’s wonderful to gaze at a field of wildflowers all day instead of a computer screen," she says. "Very soul-satisfying."
And Elsey pours her soul into her paintings. Influenced by the Fauvist and California Impressionist schools, she creates radiant paintings that are wildly alive with richly saturated colors and sinuous, undulating forms. True to Impressionist style, her works are evocative of a time, place and mood, instead of being a literal translation of what she sees.
Although new to the fine arts profession, Elsey has already met with remarkable success as an artist. This summer, she was accepted into the Marin Society of Artists’ exhibition and won an honorable mention. She has participated in Marin Open Studios, and her work is currently being shown at the "Vineyards, Vines & Food" exhibit at the California Collectors Gallery in Kentfield.
But most exciting to Elsey is her upcoming participation in the nationally renowned Sausalito Art Festival on Labor Day weekend. "I’ll be one of 225 artists from around the world who get to participate in this fabulous show," she says. "I could hardly believe my luck in getting in, because the judges are notoriously tough."
Luck – or talent? "You have to have both," Elsey declares. And there’s a surprise third ingredient that she finds very ironic. "Believe it or not, I’m finding out it comes in handy to have good business skills, even as an artist. You have to know how, when and where to present your work. So all those years of doing dog-and-pony shows are really paying off for me now!"
You can see Kathleen Elsey’s paintings at the Sausalito Art Festival, Booth 150, September 3-6 at Marinship Park on Sausalito’s waterfront, at the California Collectors Gallery in Kentfield through September 30th and at William Lester Gallery at Pte. Reyes Station (www.williamlestergallery.com).
© 2009 Kathleen Elsey. All rights reserved. All paintings are property of Kathleen Elsey
and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Kathleen Elsey.
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