From Field to Easel

From her studio window, Kara Valentino Ffield spots an osprey among tree branches. On an afternoon walk, she collects local flora to sketch. In the evening, she sinks her hands into the soil of her Pensacola miniature farm.

In Ffield’s case, life imitates art and art imitates life. She’s cultivated a space and a life where nature and her art move in tandem.

Since childhood, she’s felt an equal pull to both the easel and the outdoors. She recalls being the child always doodling, prizing her 100-crayon box of Crayolas and creating collages to decorate the many homes she occupied growing up as the child of a Naval aviator.

Her first formal art class was in high school when she enrolled in a photography course during her sophomore year. Ffield found enjoyment both in capturing the shot and in the solitary creative process that took place in the darkroom.

At her Pensacola
property, Ffield finds inspiration among nature. Photography by Steven Gray

In 2012, Ffield received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Auburn University in painting and printmaking. After graduating, she held jobs as a decorator, art gallery manager and jewelry designer, all while pursuing her own art career on the side.

By 2018, she had been featured at a number of shows and galleries and commissioned enough work that she felt comfortable dedicating her livelihood to solely being an artist.

Ffield still accepts commission requests and has completed a number of personal collections inspired by nature’s flora and fauna. Her paintings are large-format pieces in oil, acrylic, watercolor and ink mediums.

“My inspiration often comes from taking walks and simply being outdoors,” said Ffield. “I pay attention to what’s happening around me — how the light plays off surfaces and listening to naturally occurring sounds. Then, I think about how these things make me feel. My art is a means of replicating the feeling nature gives me.”

Too, her collections are inspired by moods and emotions, which she reflects in her color schemes.

Her most recent collection titled Natural Daydreams is ethereal and gossamer, featuring smokey hues that mimic a hazy morning or looking through the cloud of a stormy afternoon. Through vapors and mist, florals swirl around animals such as foxes, deer, rabbits, birds and fish. Imagine looking through the fog of a day to view a thriving ecosystem.

“This collection stems from the hair raising on the back of your neck, goosebumps on skin feeling that happens when you’re paying attention to what Mother Nature is saying,” said Ffield. “I feel I particularly experience this heightened awareness on misty, rainy, moody days.”

Her previous collection, The Stirring, presents canvases of a sienna-meets-blush hue, a shade often viewed at the day’s end burning sundown, with the Gothic silhouettes of flowers, bees, butterflies and ravens.

A lover of nature’s beauty, Ffield’s appreciation extends further to her conservancy advocacy and environmental activism. She received her permaculture design certificate through a course at Oregon State University, using her own miniature farm as her case study.

The objective of permaculture is designing livable systems for people and the planet that support nature’s own naturally occurring ability. This can include growing your own food, repairing environmentally damaged land, practicing sustainable habits and other actions that promote harmony with nature.

At her desk, an antique baker’s table, she uses a fine felt-tip pen on homemade paper to imitate the intricacies of a coneflower picked from her garden. Photography by Steven Gray

“In my art, I reference and research real plants and animals that would occur together in actual, natural habitats,” said Ffield. “Where I hope my work presents peace and escapism, I hope it also encourages viewers to think about nature and how important protecting our environment is.”

When not in her studio, Ffield can be found tending to her animals — chickens, pigs, rabbits and cats — and selecting vegetables, herbs and fruits for that day’s culinary creation. While she delights in her own slice of ecosystem, she enjoys being a short distance from the coastline where she can see dolphins swimming while she treks through the tall grasses.

“Nature is spectacular and often spiritual,” said Ffield. “It’s an ancient and timeless thing to think, throughout history, nature has called to us to pay attention.”

Inspirations and Influences

Painter Kara Valentino Ffield finds artistic influences in all facets of her life — other art forms, hobbies, nature and feel-good moments. Here are a few of her favorites:

⎥ Jane Austen movies

⎥ Baroque paintings

⎥ American folk art

⎥ Embroidery patterns

⎥ J.M.W. Turner paintings

⎥ Cooking without a recipe

⎥ Rococo style

⎥ Whiskey on a rainy day

⎥ Tea on a sunny day

⎥ Botanical still-lifes

⎥Caspar David Friedrich paintings

⎥ Solo road trips

⎥ Greek sculptures

⎥Color palettes of Wes Anderson movies