Kate Highsmith, painting on location, wearing a colorful patterned fabric and a wide-brimmed hat, stands outdoors, facing away, under a clear blue sky. There is a painting on an easel and arid landscape and plants nearby.

About Kate Highsmith, Oil Painter in Asheville, North Carolina

Kate Highsmith, with curly brown hair tied up in a bun, is smiling at the camera, standing on a beach with palm trees and boats in the background. An artist's painting of a tropical scene is visible on an easel next to her.

Fine Art Oil Paintings Inspired by Place, Color & Motherhood

Kate Highsmith is a painter based in Asheville, NC. She paints each piece on canvas in oil. Kate travels all over the world and the Carolinas to paint. In the past few years, she has traveled to places such as Greece, Spain, and Vietnam to capture the colorful vitality found in each location. Inspired by motherhood, her most current work explores different facets of being a person in a body, particularly a woman’s body.

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Kate Highsmith with long brown hair, wearing a blue jacket and carrying a baby in a baby carrier on her back while painting a landscape scene on a canvas. The scene depicts a boat on t blues, greens, and purples. Indoors, near a window with a view o

Kate Highsmith’s Painting Process. Original oil paintings in landscape, figurative, and abstract styles.

Paintings begin with a handcrafted wooden stretcher, over which Kate stretches cotton canvas. Kate begins by painting a loose outline of the subject and then, using a bold, bright palette, makes definitive brushstrokes with crisp colors. Depending on weather and paint thickness, this first layer takes a few days to fully dry. Then it is ready for a second layer, which brings more detail and color. Typically, Kate works on each piece over 3-5 sessions. She then frames each painting, after which it is ready to go to its new home.

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Kate Highsmith is smiling widely, wearing a large sun hat, sunglasses, and a colorful scarf, standing in front of white buildings with a blue sky in the background and her easel of a painting nearby.

The Roots of a Colorful Art Practice & Life

I spent my summers in incredible places, like the South of France, Italy, and St. Barts.

My father is also an artist. Growing up, my mom, older brother, and I would travel with him while he started paintings in different locations. These places delight the senses. Sometimes I smell something in the air and am pulled back to being 8 years old, eating a warm crepe filled with sugar and fresh lemon juice by the Seine.

I can now appreciate the influence this had on me as a person and an artist. The reverence for aesthetics and pleasure soaked into my soul. Surrounding ourselves with beauty and color is necessary. Art- in all things- drives us apart as humans. This inspires me to create, to dance with color, to stubbornly resist an increasingly muted world. I want to fight the monochrome standardization of our everyday spaces with richness and magic.

Why do I create? I create because it brings me joy. A joy I hope to share with others through my work.

Surrounding ourselves with beauty and color is necessary.

Kate Highsmith in a scenic outdoor location with a view of the ocean and a town below. Kate is smiling, wearing a large sun hat and sunglasses, with her hand over her heart. 
Kate travels all over the world to begin paintings on location.
A balcony with a painting on an easel, overlooking the blue sea and white buildings with blue domes in Santorini, Greece, under a clear sky. Kate Highsmith painting on location. 
“There is Beauty in the World” Macy Gray
A view of the ocean with boats, framed by tropical palm trees and pink flowers, with an artist's canvas showing a painted seascape in the foreground. Kate Highsmith painting on location. 
Creating Joy Through Art

Explore Available Original Oil Paintings

AVAILABLE WORK

Connect with Kate

Please get in touch with any questions. Or you can email me directly at katehighsmith@gmail.com. I love to do collaborative work and commissions.