MY STORY
Meet Kimberly D. Hebert
I never planned on becoming an artist. What started as a way to cope with loss became a passion, then a career, and eventually a way to bring creativity into other people’s lives.
My journey into art wasn’t traditional, but neither am I.
I Didn’t Know I Was an Artist
I doodled as a kid, but I never thought much of it. I certainly didn’t grow up thinking I would become an artist. I took one art class in high school and, years later, another in college. For the most part, painting found me outside of a classroom.
In 2009, my dad passed away from cancer. I was living away from home, deeply depressed, and desperately needed something to do with my time. I started painting as a hobby. There was no plan to turn it into a career. I simply needed something that was mine, something that gave me a place to put everything I was feeling.
When I eventually moved back home, my life changed completely. I went to rehab, experienced homelessness, became pregnant, and was trying to figure out what came next.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I painted a couple of lions.
And people loved them.
Their reactions surprised me because I still didn’t really think of myself as an artist. I had very little money, I wasn’t working, and I was starting over. But I could paint.
So I kept painting.
I started painting fleur-de-lis pieces, and I never really stopped. What began during one of the hardest chapters of my life was slowly becoming something I never expected.
One day, while I was explaining my artwork to someone, he looked at me and said:
“Kimberly, you have a gift, and you need to share it.”
So I did.
I started putting my artwork out into the world. I participated in art shows and art walks, displayed my work, and even began painting live in front of people.
For someone who never thought she would become an artist, there was something incredible about creating in public and having people stop to watch. Art was no longer just something I did privately. It was becoming something I could share with my community.
Every event gave me more confidence. I met people, talked about my work, and became more comfortable letting others see not only the finished painting, but the process behind it.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but learning to create in front of an audience was preparing me for what came next.
From Artist to Teacher
Painting live taught me that I wasn’t afraid to create in front of people. More importantly, I discovered that I loved connecting with people through art.
That eventually led me to seek out an opportunity hosting paint parties. I got the job, and I found something I was really good at.
I wasn’t just teaching people how to paint. I was entertaining a room, encouraging people who were convinced they had no artistic ability, and showing them that creating art could simply be fun.
I became one of the most requested hosts and spent the next four and a half years teaching paint parties. I built relationships with customers who came back again and again, and without realizing it, I was building a community around art.
Then the business was sold, and that chapter of my life came to an end.
But the people didn’t disappear.
And neither did my desire to create.
Betting on Myself
When the paint party business I had worked for was sold, I was entering another season of change. I had started college, and I had to figure out what came next.
So I took a chance on myself.
I used money from my student loans to rent an art studio. It wasn’t some perfectly planned business venture with investors, a big budget, or a detailed roadmap. I simply wanted a space where I could create.
Then something happened that I hadn’t expected.
My paint party customers followed me.
The people I had spent years teaching and creating with wanted to keep painting with me. What started as an art studio began turning into something much bigger.
I started hosting my own paint parties, building my own events, creating my own designs, and developing a business around the community that had already formed through art.
Looking back, I realize I wasn’t starting from nothing. I had spent years building relationships, learning how to teach, learning how to entertain a room, and discovering how powerful art can be when people experience it together.
That little art studio became the beginning of my own paint party business.
Coming Back to the Canvas
Over the years, art became more than something I created for myself. It became something I taught, something I built businesses around, and something I shared with thousands of other people.
Somewhere along the way, though, I spent a lot more time helping other people create than creating simply because I wanted to.
Now I’m making room for both.
I’m still teaching. I’m still bringing people together through art. But I’m also returning to the part of this journey that started it all — standing in front of a blank canvas and seeing what happens.
My work today includes original paintings, commissioned pieces, portraits, and murals. I don’t have one subject or one style that defines everything I create. I paint what interests me, what challenges me, and sometimes simply what I feel like painting.
I didn’t plan on becoming an artist. Turns out, I was one all along.
