A bit about me... 

I've been a freelance illustrator my whole adult life. After graduating from the Academy of Art in San Francisco ( I taught fashion drawing for four years drawing for their online degree program) I began freelancing and have never stopped! I moved to Western Massachusetts from San Francisco with my soon to be husband Artist Peter Kitchell. My friends took bets on how long I’d last. Here I am over 30 years later…

I’ve illustrated for various markets worldwide for over 35 years. I was lucky enough to have my first New Yorker magazine cover ‘June Brides’ celebrating gay marriage in 2012 and have had a total of nine covers since then! And yes, I count EVERY SINGLE one as a miracle!

My work tends to be very feminine, and I love exploring beauty in all forms. Traveling (especially to tropical climates) is my passion and and I paint my experiences, sometimes turning them into illustrated stories. It’s exciting to me when my work connects with people in a heartfelt, meaningful way. I love coming up with solutions to all types of challenges for illustration and design projects. One of my favorite things to do is to collaborate and make connections – finding the right talents for projects. Animators, filmmakers, editors & musicians - not many things I love more than having a project where I can work with a team of creative people. The rest of the time I just paint alone in my studio! My process is a combination of old school painting (mostly with Acryla Gouache) that I scan and finish in Photoshop. I am also dipping my toe slowly into the world of ‘fine art’ and selling original paintings and prints.

Take a look through my portfolio, and browse the projects I’ve worked on. The Vital Voices project has been a highlight in the past few years.

Exhibitions:

2020: March 6 - August 18, 2021  The Kennedy Center, Washington DC 

Vital Voices 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower 

2021: May 21- July 1  The Rose Gallery 2525 Michigan Ave b7, Santa Monica, CA

2023: July 27- August 26  Solo exhibition: Power And Joy Pen and Brush Gallery 29 E 22nd St, New York, NY

2024 : March 1- March 26 United Nations Headquarters, New York Visitors’ Lobby. Exhibition of portraits - collaboration with Vital Voices. 

Educational History:

BFA Academy of Art University San Francisco

Teaching : 

2015-2018 Fashion illustration online classes, foundations of fashion drawing and advanced drawing classes.

The Academy of Art University

2019- February 19-22 Teaching K-12, 6 hours a day - Hong Kong International School

Co teaching workshops with Augustwren

2022 May 14-21 Teaching painting workshop in France

2022 May 23-30 Teaching painting workshop in Spain

2022 November 7-14 Teaching painting workshop in Morocco

2023 January 7-14 Teaching painting workshop in Mexico

2023 April 3 - 10 Teaching painting workshop in Spain 

2023 September 29- October 6 Teaching painting workshop in Morocco

2024 May 19-26 Teaching painting workshop in Portugal

2024 September 26-October 3 Teaching painting workshop in Italy 

Online Zoom 2-hour workshops with Augustwren: 

2021: Sept 23, November 20, December 6, 

2022: January 30, March 6, April 18, April 24, May 3, August 11, September 8, December 4 

2023: February 11, March 12, May 27, July 15, September 9

2024 Jan 13, March 3

A whole new direction for me is teaching! With my friend, artist Jennifer Orkin Lewis (@augustwren) we teach online zoom workshops and in person weeklong workshops all over the world! In the past year we taught twice in Spain, in France, Morocco and Mexico! Click HERE to read more.

Feel free to email me gaylekabaker@gmail.com

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