Meet Mekenzie Love | Painter

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

Hi Mekenzie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
While my husband and I were going through fertility treatments for 4 years before getting pregnant with our daughter, I would distract myself with work or painting on the weekends. I’ve always loved to paint but rarely did I ever show anyone my work before starting Paintings by KLove.

I decided to use painting to make me feel better after another failed attempt at becoming a mother and out of that came a beautiful website, the confidence to show my paintings, art shows, and more.

A business wasn’t the end goal, but ended up being a product of heartache. And eventually, my perfect baby came along 🙂

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Infertility has been an incredibly difficult and at times devastating journey for me and my husband. To cheer myself up, I usually find myself on my studio floor painting on the days where my heart is broken after another failed attempt at becoming a mother. Interestingly enough, my favorite and best paintings are usually born out of pain and heartache, yet are brightly colored and loud. I think that’s the most beautiful message I have to offer through my work – amazing art can still be created during heartache.

And after a long 4 years, we are eagerly waiting for the arrival of our sweet baby girl in February!

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.
We would start our day at First Watch for breakfast – bacon, grits, coffee, the good stuff.

Then we would head to Downtown Greenville for the views, the bookstores, and of course to get our steps in before enjoying lunch at Trios!

We’d get an afternoon coffee or ice-cream depending on how crazy we’re feeling and do a little boutique shopping.

After the downtown excursions, we’d head to the movies or to dinner at Yard House (we were made for eating!)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m Kenzie, a self-taught artist from SC. I work at an accounting firm in Greenville, but in my free time you can find me painting while watching reality TV and drinking my favorite iced coffee. I’ve always had a passion for painting, but for so long I kept my artwork to myself out of fear of rejection or criticism. Luckily, my best friend who doubles as my husband encouraged me to quit making art that no one would ever see and to share my gift with the world. I never saw myself as an “artist” until I just decided to be one.

Chad not only loves everything that I create (of course he isn’t biased), but he also gives me constructive feedback and hasn’t missed a single art show or competition I’ve participated in since starting Paintings by KLove. Along with all his support, he is constantly pulling up pictures of my art on his phone to show strangers or people at the post office or people he works with. Chad values my dream of being a great painter as much as I do – maybe more.

I would have never had the confidence to share my paintings if it weren’t for my sweet Chadwick!

Website: https://www.paintingsbyklove.com

Instagram: @paintingsbyklove

Image Credits
Jamie Neil Photography
@jamieneilphotos
jamieneilphotos.mypixieset.com