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Kit Steele

@artofkitsteele

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Watercolor illustrator who revels in the random and belongs to the memory of a sweet, but cranky cat.

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A Little Whimsy, A Little Wonder, and a Whole Lot of Imagination!

What if dragons loved tea, mushrooms held magical secrets, and every illustration opened the door to another world?

Meet @artofkitsteele an artist bringing fantasy and nature together through beautiful watercolor illustrations, whimsical creatures, and imaginative storytelling.

From her charming Tea Dragons collection to her fascinating Mushies field guide, every piece offers something unique to discover. Her artwork reminds us that inspiration can be found in the smallest things, transformed into something extraordinary through creativity.

We had the pleasure of capturing the delicate details of her artwork and a glimpse of the creative spirit behind it.

Because art doesn't always have to imitate reality. Sometimes, it can create an entirely new one.

@mediatrilens

#TriLensMedia #ArtOfKitSteele #ArtistSpotlight #WatercolorArt #FantasyArt TeaDragons WhimsicalArt FantasyIllustration SupportLocalArtists CreativePhotography ArtAndImagination by @artofkitsteele

So exciting, I’m the Artist Guest of Honor at Necronomicon in Tampa this weekend! I have Tea Dragons and dark fantsy work, Mushies, and creepy mermaids!
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Come by and say hi!
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@necronomicon_fl by @artofkitsteele

THANK YOU to @dragonconcomicspopart @dragoncon and everybody who came by my booth, that I affectionately call Kitsylvania, in the Comics & Pop Artist Alley! It was a crazy amazing show, my best ever! The energy and attitude at this event is unlike any other, and it always feels like coming home.
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I finally made badge ribbons of my own, after years of saying I would, and I could not have been happier with how they came out, and the joy of handing them out! I will definitely do this again! Many, many thanks to Tanner at @marcopromosofficial for the help, speedy production, and fantastic quality!
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#dragoncon by @artofkitsteele

In honor of International Cat Day I’m posting some pics of my Quality Control Supervisor, Manda. Sadly, Manda passed in March, and I won’t lie, I’ve have been having a rough time without her. She was my shadow, my companion, my familiar. Since she had daily medication requirements, every day I wasn’t at an event revolved around her schedule. Despite the daily eye drops and pills, she was always right beside me, or curled in my lap.
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Now, the empty space beside me is devastating, and the hours pass too slowly.
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I want to thank everyone who commented, or liked, my post back in March, when I had to say goodbye, or who came up to my table at MegaCon and C2E2 to offer hugs and condolences. I can’t explain how much I appreciate all the love and compassion.
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Thank you.
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#internationalcatday #catsofinstagram #cats_of_instagram #warercolorartist #petportrait by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 31
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ORIGINAL SOLD
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Aaaaaaand DONE! That’s another complete, 31 day, MerMay challenge in the books. You just knew she had to be an octomer.
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2026 marks my TENTH consecutive, completed MerMay monthly art challenge. That’s 310 mercreature-related pieces, can you believe it?! When I started MerMay, the first 2 years were sketches, quick pencil drawings done at roughly 5”x7,” and here we are, years later, producing completely finished paintings up to 12”x18” in a single day.
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I won’t lie, the burnout after this challenge, working at these sizes and at this pace, is brutal and real. Granted, I know it’s my own doing, constantly needing to top my previous year’s mers.
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So, thank you for the ride @mermay_official , but this will likely be my last year working daily. I think, going forward, I will move to a weekly challenge, spending more time on each piece. I’ve also lost a lot of love for the overall, official challenge, the more steeped in competition and corporate sponsorship it has become.
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I will never, however, lose my love of mermaids and mercreatures and the fantastical nature of exploring all the possibilities of ocean wildlife.
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#mermay #octopus #artnouveau #watercolorartist #traditionalartist by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 30
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ORIGINAL: AVAILABLE 6”x16” watercolor & mica
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Almost done! Here’s another softer palette piece; lots of pinks and aquas this month! It can be a calm and soothing color scheme, helping to reinforce the gentle smile on her face and soft grace of her lines.
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I think my favorite thing about MerMay is exploring swooping, flowing, graceful shapes and curves.
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#mermay #mermaid #artdeco #artnouveau #watercolorartist by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 29
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ORIGINAL: AVAILABLE 6”x16” watercolor
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Something a little somber, a little melancholy, even a little reflective, perhaps. There’s something about a daily challenge (without guided prompts) that results in a lot of reflection, which then gets put to paper. It isn’t even always intentional. With some pieces, you don’t even realize what a painting says until you see it finished and it pokes you between the eyes.
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For a challenge that starts all in lighthearted fun, there have been some intensely personal pieces created during MerMays of the past few years.
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At conventions and other in-person events, I often get asked what I was thinking when I painted particular pieces. My usual answer is “I could tell you what it meant to ME, but it’s done, and what matters now is what it means to YOU.”
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The meaning, or impetus, behind certain pieces of personal work is woven in the process, not the finished product. With those pieces, the purpose of the finished painting is to speak to the viewer. People gravitate to certain works because something there tugs at something within YOU. It’s touched a nerve, or sparked a memory or a feeling or a resonance.
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THAT is why humans create.
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We create out of a desperate need to communicate, to reach, to relate, to share, to express, to bridge a gap, to move, to provoke, to tell a story, to heal, to BE, because we can’t not create.
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#mermay #darkart #melancholy #watercolorartist #traditionalartist by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 28
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ORIGINAL: AVAILABLE 6”x16” watercolor, ink, & mica
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Ok… I lied, a second piece from the @mermay_official prompt list (3rd really, since I did the Leia box jelly for May 4th’s Star Wars prompt,) but, I saw #icon was the prompt for today, and if you’ve been here for at least 1 MerMay, you KNEW there was going to be a pool floatie classic Hollywood siren mer eventually!
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I present Rita Hayworth in an adaptation of her classic Vogue satin nightgown pinup photo.
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I’ve lost track of how many of the classic Hollywood pool floatie Mers I’ve done over the years at this point… I should put them all together for a post. I think it might be 7… 8? Hmm… this requires some research! When this year’s MerMay is done, I’ll go dig into the archives.
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#mermay #mermaid #ritahayworth #pinup by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 27
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ORIGINAL: AVAILABLE 6”x16” watercolor and mica
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I love jellyfish, and I take this approach to painting jellymers quite often. The jelly’s bell is just the perfect shape for a floofy, full-skirted ballgown.
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While this is my 10th year working on MerMay dailies, I rarely follow the @mermay_official prompt list, but I knew this was the perfect mer for today’s prompt: iridescent.
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For the technically curious, that is not salt texture around the mermaid, salt generally causes much sharper shapes. The texture here was created by flicking clean water into my paint at multiple points in the drying process. Dropping clean water in when the paint is Still Very Wet doesn’t generally cause much texture (this is pigment dependent,) nor does it do much when your paint is Very Nearly Dry. There’s a sweet spot between those two points, as your paint is drying, that you can make soft, lovely, randomized blooms in your washes with just a few drips and drops of clean water.
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#mermay #iridescent #mermay2026 #watercolorartist #traditionalartist by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 26
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ORIGINAL: SOLD
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A friend sent me a picture of a Fairy Butterfly Sea Slug, and they’re So Pretty!! No, really, go look them up, they’re like little sparkly, frilly poofles of magic in the ocean. Yes, poofle is a technical term. 😁
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The format I’m working at for this year’s mers isn’t really what I would have wanted to work with for this prompt inspiration. Fairy Butterfly Sea Slugs are definitely more square than rectangle, but, this is what I came up with to work within my set shape. This is also another color palette departure for me this year, it’s very cotton candy-colored. I like it! It suits the subject matter.
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#mermay #mermaid #fairy #seaslug #fantasyartist by @artofkitsteele

MerMay day 25
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ORIGINAL SOLD
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MORE GREEN! Black and green is one of my favorite color combinations. There’s something rich and vibrant, and yet something a little sharp, about these two colors.
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Perfect for a character with some attitude. 💚
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So, if yesterday was all about Perylene Green, today is all about Phthalos. Today’s green is a combination of Phthalo Green (PG7,) and Phthalo Blue (PG15.) Phthalos are Very Vibrant, Very Staining, Very Intense colors. They are the epitome of “a little bit goes a long way” colors.
They produce beautifully vibrant, transparent, clean colors, and are usually best used as mixing colors.
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#mermay #mermaid #watercolorartist #traditionalartist by @artofkitsteele