Local artist balances love of creation with work and family

Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series on Austin artists. This series celebrates artists who do their art as a passion rather than a career. Versions of these stories appear in the July/August edition of Austin Living magazine.

Kandee Feist spread a bright shade of green paint across a darker green canvas and slowly thinned it, blending the colors together.

Feist, a county employee for five years, was partway through painting the image of a cactus, which she photographed on vacation in Arizona has been chipping away at since.

“I like landscapes, flowers, and I’ve been kind of into different flowers — that’s a weed,” she said pointing to a painting on her kitchen wall. “But it’s beautiful. Sometimes the weeds are the most beautiful things. … When you look at them, they’re pretty intricate and kind of different.”

Kandee’s passion for painting blossomed during her time at Austin High School, especially in Bruce Loechen’s classes. She took several art classes in high school and even ended up doing independent studies. She then studied visual communication, largely dealing more in production, at the Brown Institute, but it wasn’t what she was looking for.

After starting a family and a few moves, Kandee now works in office support for Health and Human Services. But Kandee is still an avid painter, despite balancing it with her job and a family of three children and step child: Alli, 15, Kaya, 15, Cora, 10, and Xhander, 1.

“It’s pretty busy,” she said. “I have to have a pretty good block of time to be able to paint with, is you have to the cleanup or supper or all that fun stuff in between, so I don’t get to paint as often as I’d like.”

Sometimes when Kandee takes out her supplies to paint, it can be a popular activity with the kids, which doesn’t always translate to productivity on her own pieces.

“If you bring the paints out, the kids love to paint with you, but then you find yourself helping them with their stuff, then you’re not doing your painting. You’re helping them with their painting,” she said. “It’s good, but at the same time it’s not your time.”

Art overlaps with many aspects of Kandee’s life, as she said art often requires using uniques ideas and problem solving to attain a certain color or certain raise in the paper.

“I think art is also problem solving,” she said. “So it can overlap in many ways in your life.”

For one, she said her art has helped with problem solving skills, but it’s also been a way to connect with co-workers and the community as they’re eager to discuss their creative endeavors.

“They’ll talk to you; they talk about what they painted,” she said. “It can be really great connection with everybody else in the community.”

Kandee has become a bit more vocal about her art with her co-workers.

Many of her coworkers with the county are also creative-minded. Some paint, and other do sewing or other things and another makes intricate popup cards.

“They kind of pop out of the woodwork,” Kandee said.

Kandee has taken several art classes with co-workers, and she planned to start hosting art nights rotating at a few co-workers’ homes late this summer.

Though it can be challenging to find the time with family and work duties, Kandee says she paints for herself and the calm and relaxation that comes with it.

“The main thing I notice if I’m not doing something kind of creative, it’s an anxious feeling, it’s almost like you get cabin fevery,” she said. “So if you’re not doing something kind of creative and that outlet, you feel like you get a little anxious sometimes.”

Despite a busy schedule, she shows no signs of slowing down.

“I want to paint more,” she said. “That’s my goal is to be more disciplined and get more time in. Let the dishes sit and do my artwork.”