Regina Lord, owner of Creative Kismet Art, was born and raised in northern Arizona. A self-taught artist, she is now a rising star in Tucson’s art community. Lord credits her artistic grandparents for encouraging her early interest in drawing. According to Lord, “Creative Kismet Art came about because of my desire to share my art, ideas, and a little bit of sunshine with as many people as possible.”

Creating one-of-a-kind mixed media folk art, Lord has innate artistic ability as well as incredible technique, style, and naturalness. She utilizes a variety of mixed media including acrylics, fabric, colored pencils, and artist’s crayons—virtually any medium that calls to her. Lord remarks, “With my paint brush and my boldest colors, I pull ideas together in a way that makes my heart sing.” Her work is always bright, colorful, and pure of heart.

Lord is fascinated by the natural beauty of the southwest, especially the mountains, the bold Mexican colors, and the architecture that are predominant in Tucson. “My style is the unraveling of a woven mixture of my Hispanic heritage, my deep rooted love for folk art, and my enchantment with magical whimsicality,” she states. Recalling beautiful fragments caught like photographs in her mind allow her to capture the essence of these ideas in her paintings. “I paint what’s in my head. A version of what I’ve seen, but different.” 

​She once aspired to be an art teacher, but that was at a time when schools were cutting art out of the curriculum. Instead, Lord did a complete turnaround and made a decision to become a nurse but ten years into her nursing career, she was having a difficult time coping with her choice and was extremely unhappy. She realized that gratitude could help her get through this difficult time. She opines that, “When I started to be more thankful, I got a new position, and things got better.”

About two years ago Lord summoned the courage to take the leap and quit her job to create art full time. “Fortunately, I have an incredibly supportive husband who knows that I need this to be a happy mommy and wife,” she proclaims. She is content now as her own boss with complete freedom to immerse herself in her art.

The inspiration for Lord’s latest painting comes from a quote by Oscar Wilde, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” She explains, “My main goal in art is to focus on love, especially self-love. People really lack time to nurture and love themselves, so I want people to feel uplifted, happy, calm, cheerful, and loved.

Frida Kahlo is a frequent subject of Lord’s paintings. Lord relates, “I love her as a person. She suffered so much and still managed to find a way to express herself. She was such a strong woman, very original and unafraid to be who she was.” In addition to Frida, Lord uses other female subjects in her paintings. “I like to draw women. They sometimes see themselves in my paintings. I try to make them not just beautiful, but strong. I want to create strong women I would want to be friends with, or that I would want to know, who have their own story where they suffered, but they survived.” She also loves to paint nature, and is inspired flowers and birds.

A hard worker, Lord teaches two online e-courses on art. One class is devoted entirely to gratitude. Lord notes, “The class opens your eyes to how great your life is when you stop focusing on the bad parts. You make things that remind you to be thankful, including a journal, gratitude beads, and a gratitude banner made of fabric.” The other class is a portrait class where students are instructed on how to create mixed media portraits.

One of Lord’s goals this year is to hit the pavement and get her work in more shops and galleries. Currently, she sells on Etsy and at numerous art shows, such as the Tucson Museum of Art, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Chris Bubany, and the Mercado at San Augustin. Her art is available in all price ranges, and in addition to original paintings, she offers art blocks, necklaces, paper banners, ornaments, cards, and prints.

“When I do a show, I try to have as many things as possible, because that makes for a much more successful show,” she says. “I like to do little pocket mirrors that have art on them. Unfortunately, I don’t have any left, because I sold all of them at my last show.” The paper blessing banners Lord sells with inspiring messages and artful illustrations strung together with ribbon are also extremely popular.

Lord demurs when asked if she emulates other artists, because she wants to keep her own originality intact. She insists, “I want to have my own voice.” Lord’s ability to execute her original ideas combined with her joie de vivre, reveal why she is such an exceptional artist.

For questions, suggestions, or more information email [email protected] or visit CreativeKismet.com.