VL Studio Visit with Carol Jo Smidt

My fascination with the beauty and grace of horses greatly influenced my artistic path. Drawing horses as a 4 year old is my first recollection of my passion for art. My bedroom walls were covered with my pencil drawings of my beloved horses. Hours were spent drawing horses and other animals. It was in kindergarten that I realized others would want my art. Dissatisfied with my work, I took a horse drawing and threw it in the trash can. A classmate reached into the trash and took the drawing because he liked it! Even at that young age, I was amazed that people would want my work!

After high school, I attended the St. Paul School of Art. Fast-forward with me through marriage, a son, 21 addresses in 26 years during my husband’s Navy career, and a BA in Advertising Design from Iowa State University. We finally settled in an equine community outside of Woodbine, a small town in southeast Georgia. I finally could have my beloved horses on our small farm, but although my passion for art was there it still resided deep within and struggled to come fully alive.

After a dozen years as a self-employed graphic designer and periodic dabbling with a paint brush, I learned that my passion for art was to call me back via yet another path. Enrolling in Savannah College of Art and Design and taking a number of graphic design graduate courses, I was finally brought back to my first love. It was on this part of my journey that I realized my need to leave the work and world of graphic design to get back to my first love – the visual arts and my painting!



What is my painting world like today? I recently moved from a small loft on the third floor in our house to my new studio, which is the entire first floor of our house. I set myself on a fairly structured schedule, and I focus on some aspect of my new artist’s life on Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. Many mornings are spent with paperwork and research.  Without a schedule, my painting time would vanish, and I would have a lot of blank canvas! My work is best done with some breaks. I take small vacations, but after a few days, I hear the call of my paints, brushes, and canvases, and I eagerly get back to my easel and pour myself into my paintings.

For me, painting is like working on a puzzle, without the picture on the box to guide me. Most times the answers do not come particularly fast. But by experimenting, nudging here and there, my ideas begin to take form and a new painting comes to life. I normally paint by adding layers over layers. When the paint becomes too wet or my eyes too fatigued by looking at the colors being used, I move on to another painting. I have between 4 to 12 paintings in different stages of completion. 

I’ve heard it said that there is “beauty in the everyday”. I agree. I enjoy painting ordinary subjects with extraordinary colors. My painting subjects are usually animals, but I like the challenge of painting other subjects. Through my painting experiences, I have branched out by creating landscapes, still life, and figurative art.


Wanting to expand beyond oils, I started painting with pastels and gouache. I have grown to love these two new media. Changing my media and changing the size of canvases from ultra-mini to very large helps me move into a new creative arena.

Not wanting to become too comfortable with my art, I strive to continue to learn by trying anything new; subjects, color combinations, techniques, and media. Knowing that you need to discover by doing, I have learned that my “best teacher is my canvas”. I have come to believe that “to learn is to paint” and “to paint is to learn”.

Participating in regional art shows and festivals is one of the ways that I promote my art and to develop relationships with collectors and potential collectors. I belong to a number of local and national art organizations. Painting is a solitary pursuit, and I can easily become a hermit. In addition to getting out of my painting world, it is necessary to have the support from other artists. My contacts with other artists become great learning tools to see their art up close and personal and to get to know the artist behind the painting.

For me, the journey of a painting is part ability, part technique, part intuition, part sweat, and hours of learning from past paintings. The reward and joy of this journey is the painting process and continues to the person who emotionally connects to one of my paintings. Pet paintings of animals that have passed have provided me with some of my most powerful emotional connections. One owner of a loving pet, Savannah, who recently passed shared this: “my sister and brother-in-law had this painting done for us (by me) and it captures her just perfectly!”  This is one of the big reasons I paint!

carol@caroljosmidt.com
www.caroljosmidt.com