Custom Painting Case Study - Kaisa Keranen
What you don’t see. The canvas was painted completely black and then all colors were layered over that. This is to illustrate how Kaisa overcame difficult times and depression with the help of movement and activity.
Personalized and Intentional
My favorite art pieces to create are the custom paintings commissioned by art lovers.
Custom paintings provide a wonderful opportunity to connect with creative and kind people from all over the world. Each custom piece is my humble attempt to make the painting as unique as the people you find on the canvas.
So, how do we go from a blank canvas to a finished piece as you see here? Glad you asked! Let’s find out!
Meet Kaisa Keranen!
Before we can talk about the painting, we need to get to know Kaisa a bit better. Kaisa Keranen is a personal trainer, fitness educator, and social media influencer known for her fun and innovative ways to get people moving. As the owner of KaisaFit, she has developed her own method of movement which she shares daily with her clients and social media followers worldwide. She lives and teaches by the motto that health is a feeling not a look and believes whole-heartedly in her mission to get people around the world up and moving!
If I were to describe Kaisa in one word it would be “dynamo.” She is possibly the most active and energetic person that I have ever met. Just check out the videos on her Instagram account to see what I mean. Wrap that with kindness and compassion and you have Kaisa.
Detail shot showing Kaisa’s movement and boundless energy.
The MEETING
Every custom painting begins with a face-to-face conversation. So, with Kaisa located in Seattle, WA and me in Grand Rapids, MI, we met via a video call.
Kaisa shared her story, thoughts, ideas and personal preferences so that I could best personalize her portrait.
Here are a few key highlights that found their way into the painting.
HIGHLIGHTS
1.) Movement is key to her life and career.
2.) Helping others get moving is her mission in life.
3.) She didn’t want the portrait to necessarily “look” like her.
4.) Colors should include pink. teal and black.
5.) Kaisa is very open about how movement helped her overcome and continue to fight depression.
6.) She also shared a short documentary that was very helpful. (I have included that below if you would like to learn more about her.
7.) 36”x48” canvas. Acrylic and ink.
Across the top of the painting you can see Kaisa teaching others how to look at life and movement in new way.
HELPING OTHERS LEARN TO MOVE AND OVERCOME
So how does this translate? Well, to begin you can find two primary figures. On the left is Kaisa. On the right is someone learning to move and be active with Kaisa. You will notice that Kaisa is not touching the bottom of the canvas because she is up and encouraging the other figure to move. The figure on the right is just learning and is still anchored to the bottom of the canvas.
Across the top of the painting, the dark glasses with new eyes illustrate that Kaisa is teaching the other figure how to look past the darkness and depression and look at life and movement in a new way! The figure on the right is getting started and their arm is raising above their head.
Capturing Kaisa’s degree of energy was tricky. If you watch her videos, you will see she is a blur of movement and energy. So, I set out to define and paint body “movement” as opposed to body “shape.” At the core of Kaisa’s philosophy is that movement is about achieving happiness and overcoming obstacles, not achieving an ideal body shape. I love that.
Of course, there is also a bunch of pink, teal, and coordinating colors that match Kaisa’s aesthetic.
What you don’t see. Overcoming depression.
A big part of Kaisa’s story is overcoming difficulties and depression with movement. To illustrate this, the entire canvas was painted black and then all colors were layered over top of that.
To me, this sums up depression and the fight to overcome it. It’s dark and always there underneath everything. It influences everything, even if you don’t always see it.
Right figure close-up. The lines above the left eye show us that this figure is learning to see in a new way. The plus sign in the ear let’s us know this figure is hearing new information.
MORE INFO ABOUT KAISA
Find Kaisa online.
I highly recommend visiting some of the links below and see if Kaisa is able to help you with your wellness goals.
- KaisaFit.com
- Workout with Kaisa
- Shop
- Podcast
- Instagram
- YouTube
The finished piece. Can you find some of the symbolism that we talked about above?