Today she still paints and draws buildings, but now she is inside making floors look like expensive Italian marble, or wooden cabinets resemble intricate parquet designs.

Following a life-altering event in her life, she accepted her sister’s invitation to come to the Emerald Coast for a much needed vacation. Like so many others, she never left.

The warmer weather wasn’t the only change she had to become accustomed to. The easy pace of the South took her by surprise too.

“The people are horribly laid back here,” she said. “I have never been somewhere where people said they’re going fishing and meant it.”

Her driving work ethic led Cynthia to find clients and projects everywhere.

“I tattooed for a while,” she said. “I painted (names on) lots of boats.”

She has dabbled in oils, portraiture, murals, and just about any other artistic medium. Now, Cynthia favors pen and ink. Her photo-realistic artwork is in high demand.

“Almost everything is commissioned,” she said. “It’s all sold before I even finish it.”

As a word-of-mouth artist, Cynthia says she gets plenty of strange requests. She has etched gravestones, added color to ceramic lawn art, added deceased relatives into family portraits, and painted a massive tribute to Harley Davidson for a Michigan attorney that now graces the wall of the owner’s storage room (in deference to his wife who was not a big HD fan.)

She also works with Artistic Distinction as a faux finisher. Cynthia can make plain linoleum and pressboard look amazing. Using unorthodox tools of the trade, and with her knowledge of architecture and perspective, she can mimic mosaic-like finishes on cabinets and walls.

“We rarely do anything with rags or brushes,” she said about her painting tools. “We have used construction mud, hair brushes, wire brushes, paper bags, plastic wrap. We’re not going to do something like someone else. We see something new and say ‘that’s what we’re going to do.'"

“Everything is like art class all the time. There is always something new to learn.”

Cynthia’s latest project was to design the cover art for the debut album of local favorites The Loco Locals. She is also working to build an inventory of pieces for an art show. When she finds the time, she wants to try her hand at sculpture.

To find our more about Cynthia Keller, contact her at (850) 685-2611.