Meet Katie Leimbach | Painter & Art Director

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

Hi Katie, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
Being outside, hiking and camping with people I love, creative breakthroughs, listening to music, dancing, and creating for the sake of creating. What makes me most happy about all of these things is that they make me feel uninhibited and free from ego.

I don’t think I’d be making the type of work I do if it weren’t for Summer days laying by the river, hiking in the mountains, and swimming. My work is heavily influenced by the natural world and I’m often seeking to bottle the happiness of those perfect summer days in my work. There is such an emotional impact that music has on me and brings me so much joy especially seeing someone I adore play live. Sometimes I name my paintings after songs I listened to a lot while working on the piece. These moments away from the canvas often spark creative breakthroughs and inspire me to want to create more and try new ideas for the sole purpose of pleasing no one but myself.

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.
My paintings are a combination of intuitive abstraction and recognizable motifs. I’m inspired by the beauty of the world and the ways humans interact with and replicate it. I currently have a solo show up at one of the Stumptown Coffee locations in Portland and I am very proud of the series, it’s called Adornments.

It took me a while to truly hone in on my style. My first abstract works were mostly unplanned. I just went at the canvas fully on feeling. I didn’t pick a color palette ahead of time or plan any sort of design or pattern. Now I plan my colors out in advance and go through many iterations of sketches before I come to a design I want to paint. Though I’ve been painting for 11 years I still grapple with calling myself a professional artist. I don’t fully support myself with my art (yet). I’m also the deputy art director at Portland Monthly Magazine by day which I enjoy a lot. I find that my design style and painting style influence each other to an extent with the colors I choose for each.

I’d say that I’m still learning lessons every day but one thing I am learning is to have confidence in my abilities and my own unique way of approaching painting and design. It’s easy to get caught up comparing yourself to others but your work will be more authentic if you do what speaks to you.

I’m looking forward to what the future hold for my art career. I just took the leap to rent out an art studio and I’m excited to have a separate space from home to work on my paintings. Next up on my agenda is to get my art into the hands of more people and be part of more shows!

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 would hope that they would be visiting in the Summer so we could drive to a swim spot, maybe Keenig Creek because it is so pretty. I went there for my birthday this year and it was lovely.

If we were staying in town in Portland, we’d get breakfast at Broder and then do some vintage shopping at Hollywood Vintage. I’d taken them to see art at Stephanie Chefas Projects and grab a slice or shall I say square at Rach PDX. We would watch the sunset at Skidmore Bluffs and grab dinner at Guero and then for a sweet treat we’d get the matcha-dusted soft serve from Cheese and Crack.

If we were feeling like a night out, we’d get drinks at Victoria Bar and see a band playing at Mississippi studios.

For a chill Sunday, I’d take them to Portland Flea, and then we would hang out in Laurelhurst Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to Jacky Boehm, she is a talented illustrator and graphic designer and also my best friend! Her work is colorful, expressive, and ethereal. She often emphasizes the female form in conjunction with nature and how the two play off each other. She lives in New York but we still find time to bounce creative ideas off each other and have collaborated on a few projects in the past. Definitely check out her work 🙂

Website: Katieleimbach.com

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