How We Dream is How We Leave — Painting is a Process

Sometimes I know what I want to paint. Sometimes, it takes a while for a painting to help me bring it to life.

Painting is a Process

I painted “How We Dream Is How We Leave” quickly over a heavily textured surface I’d been building and reworking for a long time. I think that speaks to the fact that sometimes the longest part of making art is learning what wants to be there, and sitting with it until it’s ready to arrive. Or depart? Yes, arrivals and departures evolve much like painting is a process.

Dreamscape colors.

A house with its lights still on.

A balloon waiting.

A ladder still dangling.

The decision not yet made.

Dreaming.

Leaving.

“How We Dream is How We Leave” by Kellie Raines

I’m honored to share that this piece was accepted into the 2026 PBS KVIE Art Auction.

A painting about possibility, departure, and the strange truth that sometimes we spend months preparing for the thing that changes us in an instant.