Just Paint, It Ain't: Demystifying the Complex Marriage of Artists and Their Viewers - Hardcover

In Just Paint, Kim Zabbia takes aspiring artists, collectors and art viewers on a journey deep into the subconscious world of her art and back again to more worldly advice on how to engage artists in discussions about their work and how to build successful art careers. Equally important, the book is filled with her exceptional paintings or, as she says, a poetic "hands-on expression of the soul" locked in a struggle between control and freedom. Zabbia gives readers an excellent guide to better understand art and artists.
John R. Kemp--Author and contributor to 20 books on Louisiana art and history
New Orleans correspondent for ARTnews Magazine
Art columnist for Louisiana Life Magazine

In her new book Just Paint, It Ain't, artist, writer, and educator Kim Howes Zabbia explains the roles of artist and viewer and how both connect symbiotically with each other. It's no surprise that art is a personal statement, but so is viewing and appreciating the artist's work, as Zabbia makes clear in her entertaining and very readable book. In a personal and conversational style, she uses her own stunning work to support her ideas, and shows that each of the roles of artist and viewer is crucial to the other, and that suppositions and established opinions can often change through dialogue to the betterment of both parties. The many illustrations, all drawn from her work, act not only as a mini-catalogue raisonne' but as pictorial examples of her arguments.
Eric Johnson--Director, Sims Memorial Library, Southeastern Louisiana Univ, COLLECTOR--Hammond, LA

In Just Paint, It Ain't, it is interesting to see how Kim Zabbia paints each piece, exhibits it and sometimes is never finished until she takes it back to the studio and continues to evolve its creation. I hope that before non-collectors question a painting's price, they will read this book and realize the time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, love and joy an artist, like Kim, puts into each work created.
Chad Wells--Owner, Whit's Frozen Custard, COLLECTOR-- Columbus, Ohio

Be aware of the treasure in your hands! In this magnificent book, Zabbia reveals in a humorous way (that means laughing out loud) the important relationship between Artist and Viewer, giving tips and tricks for both and of course, showing her fabulous art to us, the Reader.
Inez Soethof-Van Dongen--ARTIST / COLLECTOR-- The Hague, Netherlands

In her new book, Zabbia explores the symbiotic relationship between Artist and Viewer, two terms which are capitalized throughout the manuscript to underscore their interconnectedness. In recounting her journey from a portrait artist to an abstract artist, Zabbia never loses sight of the truth that art only exists as a marriage between Artist and Viewer.
Sue Nichols, Southeastern Louisiana Univ, English Dept
Author-Only in Louisiana: a Guide to its One of a Kind Quilt Trail
ARTIST / COLLECTOR--Hammond, LA