Kim Rody is a professional fine artist known for her bold, expressive, and brilliantly colorful underwater paintings. After running her own State Farm agency in Texas for several years, she made a dramatic life change in 2000 to pursue art full-time. Trading insurance policies for paintbrushes, she moved first to South Florida, and eventually to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas, where she is now based and paints for much of the year.

Early on, she lived aboard a moored boat in Hopetown Harbour, where she met and married a fellow sailor—an adventure that added richness to her life and artistic inspiration. Her first paintings focused on the anatomy of sea creatures—fish, turtles, and ocean creatures brought to life with a vibrant energy and intuitive detail. Over time, her style evolved into something more expressive and dynamic, driven by color, rhythm, and feeling.

“At first, I painted what I saw. Then I painted what I knew. Now, I paint how it feels,” Kim explains. “I care deeply about the sea life and island fauna I’m painting. While I still value form and balance, I’m increasingly drawn to the physical act of painting—the movement, the layering, the contrast of light and dark, and the emotional energy that emerges on the canvas.”

She became known as the “Fishartista,” and her artwork gained a devoted following. Her vivid paintings have been printed on everything from puzzles and dishes to notecards and textiles, and collected by ocean lovers, art buyers, retail store owners, and designers alike.

After Hurricane Dorian destroyed her Hopetown home in 2019, Kim entered a multi-year period of rebuilding and realignment. The devastation brought new clarity: a return to her roots as a painter, with less focus on mass production and more on creating exceptional one-of-a-kind works.

Though now based primarily in the Bahamas, Kim continues to paint wherever she goes. Over eight years of summers spent in a North Carolina mountain cabin, she created an entire series of mountain landscapes. During several summers on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, she painted its unique scenery and iconic blue crabs. She’s also enjoyed a few plein air jaunts through Europe, producing a handful of works inspired by her travels abroad.

Her collectors are drawn to the luminous color, intensity, and immersive quality of her paintings—work that pulls you into the world beneath the surface, whether it be the sea or something more internal.

“Kim Rody’s road to art sounds like the plot for a romantic comedy or the lyrics to a country song…” — Seth Hopkins, Executive Director, Booth Western Art Museum

While Kim prefers to let her art speak for itself, she appreciates the support of curators and collectors alike. Her studio in the Bahamas is open by appointment, and her work is available as originals, giclées, and select porcelain dinnerware pieces.