Thanks for visiting my website, I'm Kina!

I'm an oil painter, and I enjoy teaching others the various techniques I use in my work. My style is varied right now as I am experimenting with different painting techniques and subjects.  My paintings are inspired by the things I see around me every day here in Texas.  I especially like to photograph and paint draft horses whenever I can encounter them!

I have a very creative history.

When I was just a wee little gal, my mom stayed home with me while she ran a quilting business from home.  I would play under her feet at the quilting machine as she gave me all her scraps and adult scissors to cut and sew little crooked quilts on a tiny black Singer sewing machine.  Today, she is a wonderful gourd artist, and still a creative inspiration, and my dad is a custom furniture maker in Abilene, Texas.

When I was still just a wee little gal, I would go with my dad on visits to his job sites.  He was a custom home builder, and I would play with the wood scraps and marvel at the framed-up walls.  I cherish those memories and every time I smell cut 2x4s those memories fill my mind.  I recently designed and built the home that's been in my head for some years now.  I did a lot of the work myself inside the home such as the kitchen cabinets, and bathroom cabinets and mirrors, and lots of custom wood accents throughout the home.  It's something I've wanted to accomplish since I was a little girl, just watching my dad do what he does. 

My dad was also a rattle snake hunter, and made things out of the skins such as belts, buckles, hat bands, and wallets.  My mom even took the rattles and died leather and made refrigerator magnets. 

Fast forward many years and I started playing in his wood shop, building awkward things out of scraps, and learning by trial and error. My Dad is a master craftsman but not a natural born teacher so he just let me at it, and helped me fix everything I screwed up!  He owns Lankford’s Mesquite Furniture, and creates beautiful custom furniture and other things out of Texas Mesquite wood, such as this beautiful ranch house door.

I earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts at Abilene Christian University.  My emphasis was on graphic design, but I enjoyed taking classes in sculpture, ceramics, painting, and jewelry.  I began my studies in architecture, and industrial arts, but the art department pulled me in like a magnet.  I passed the art building every day walking to my classes and couldn’t resist. 

During my sophomore year of college I was in a terrible burn accident which required a care flight to a burn unit and many months of immobility.  Once I was up and around, I spent my days golfing with my grandad and his buddies, and piddling around with some woodcarvings in my dad’s shop. 

This is when I also met Aaron Watson, a fellow ACU grad, and spent time with him playing guitar, writing music, and started my chapter on having a band, recording an album of mostly songs written by myself and Aaron.  I toured around with Aaron and his band singing backup vocals and toured some with my band.  My band and I traveled around Texas playing gigs.  I opened for Texas music legends such as Gary P. Nunn, Billy Joe Shaver, Daryl Dodd, Kevin Fowler, Chris Knight, and more.  I recorded an album in 2004, called Kina Lankford, Copenhagen Kisses.  You can find it on iTunes if you care to take a listen!

It was fun, but a lot of work.  And when people ask me why I don’t do it anymore, it’s because I didn’t want that kind of life on the road.  I enjoy time at home with my family, and gardening, and my art side of me has a stronger pull than the music.  And not to mention, I like to go to bed early! 

After college, and during the time of my musical adventure, I also took a desk job as a graphic designer typing text into boxes and for my creative brain that was a depressing use of my time.

Right along the time I got married, I began teaching art at a public school in Texas. 

During that time, I also ran a successful woodworking business where I built hundreds of free form pedestals and panels for the taxidermy industry.  I stayed too busy and my hands and my back told me I should do something that is not so heavy.  I really loved doing that and I enjoyed getting to know taxidermists around Texas and the surrounding states.  But I had to pull the plug.

Not long after that I came up with the idea to start a paint party biz.  I designed a logo, rented a place, invested lots of money, and said some prayers.  It was so successful, but I was working 80 hours a week, had 5 employees, and I had a new born baby, and no sleep!  I was not able to spend much time with my husband or two little boys, so I made the decision to downsize, relocate, and only teach small private classes where I could teach skills, that is where my teacher heart is, is teaching people how to paint.

Only teaching about 4 classes a week, I was trying to find ways to scale my business, and I discovered that I could teach online courses to help more people learn how to paint without having to hold so many local classes each week.  Now I can help you develop your painting skills no matter where you live!  I currently have over 800 students enrolled in my Getting Started with Oil Painting Course and that number is growing steadily.

Learn from me!  Go to all courses here.

I have more time to paint!  And now I will talk about my inspirations for painting!  I paint in oils primarily and also enjoy creating mixed media paintings.  I paint various subjects because I truly enjoy the process of learning and practicing various techniques.  I do have a few subjects that really excite me and I’m excited to paint more of these in the upcoming years.  Those subjects are draft horses, old cars and trucks, architectural paintings.  It’s really a list much longer than that.  I hope I live a really long time because I sure have a lot of ideas for paintings!

I hope you enjoy my paintings and consider purchasing a print for your home, office, or a gift for that special someone!