Life & Work with Kyla Jones of Bellflower

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyla Jones.

Hi Kyla, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in South Central Los Angeles , I’ve always been creative, interested in the arts, but never knew that you could actually have a job in that field.Even though I grew up singing in my church choir , making things for my dolls like clothes, doll room sets out of Costco Boxes. Along with stop motion films and even a mini series on YouTube. No one in my family chose to be an artist even though some had the talent to do so . That was only the start of my Artist journey. In elementary I remember doing an art project at the end of the year every year, which is where I found out I enjoyed drawing Fast forward a little bit to high school I remember being interested in psychology, but still not knowing what I wanted to do career rise and then Covid hit in 2020. And I was stuck at home with nothing but school to do. So I decided to start painting little cartoon characters from Looney Tunes and was actually good at it so I decided to take myself further and learn how to draw and paint people. It took me a couple of years and even now I still feel like I haven’t mastered painting yet, but I am much better than I was when I started. Now in 2025 I’m a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who mostly focuses in figurative work using different art mediums like oil pastel , acrylic& oil paint, clay, and air brushing. As I’ve grown as an artist I notice my work mainly focuses on women and specifically women of color . Mainly black women & brown women mostly because that’s the only experience as a women I relate to considering I am both .

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I won’t say my journey as an artist has been a smooth road because that would negate all the hard work I’ve put into it. Especially because I’ve chosen to take the unconventional route as an artist choosing to be self-taught. Choosing to be self-taught as an artist and not going to a traditional art, school has its struggles because it’s not as easy to make connections in the art world as it would be if I chose to go to art school . But unfortunately I’m not rich enough to pay to go to a traditional art school . Choosing to be self-taught means that my work has to speak for me in order to get into the rooms that I want to or connect to the artist that I want to. Even when it comes to trying to get into galleries, I find that I get rejected a lot more than I get received probably because I don’t have a degree or my artwork doesn’t fit with what the gallery is trying to show. then there’s also a struggle of having patience when it comes to growth because I am self taught i’ve had to teach myself everything I know skill wise. It also takes longer because I didn’t go to traditional school where everything I’m teaching myself would probably be taught within a one year time frame instead of three. Even sometimes I still question my own skill compared to people I know who have went to school to learn to be better painters or artists . People still connect with my art and what I’m saying always gets through so I know I’m doing something right.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who mainly focuses on figurative painting. I specifically choose to paint only women, and if I do have a man in my painting, he’s usually a background character, and the woman is always the main character. I personally choose to only paint women and specifically women of color because well number one I am a woman of color and I was raised mostly by women. My mom, being a single mom raised me and my sister, and my grandma who also helped in raising both of us. Because of my upbringing, I think it makes me have a deep appreciation for women, so I choose to paint them. My paintings are also an expression of black femininity, because often times portrayed by media, black women and women of color are always seen as more masculine than we are, when we are also just as feminine as any other woman on the planet, maybe even more, we set the trends, we rule the beauty world, and inspire everyone on the planet. So I choose to focus on women because without women, none of us would be here. I also choose to focus on women because we do live in a male dominated world. We live in a patriarchy where women are always the other so in my artwork, I choose to make women the main focus and men the other. i’m definitely most known for my paintings, and what sets me apart from others in my field is my art style and the reasoning behind why I choose to paint what I choose to paint. I’m most proud of the fact that I even chose to be self taught as a artist because I know it’s a lot harder to make it as a self-taught artist and it requires a lot of hard work that I’m willing to give.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was always very creative. I grew up singing in the choir at my church Mount Moriah Baptist church . I was also a part of praise dancing. Even though I don’t sing publicly as an adult when I was younger, a lot of people enjoyed my singing voice so much so that I ended up singing for my kindergarten and preschool graduation lift every voice and seeing twice. I always knew how to entertain myself Because I had a single mom who would be out working. so I found that I had to entertain myself, which is where I started to so close for my dolls and make my own little world with them. I used to create miniature rooms for them out of Costco boxes and would film YouTube videos on my iPod and upload them to YouTube. I even would perform at school in plays singing and acting. Personality wise I’ve always been shy even as a child I was shy. I don’t think I ever really grew out of it even now when I meet people I still get very nervous. My number one interest when I was a child was Monster High. I was obsessed with the dolls. Once I found out about Monster High Bratz and Barbie were thrown to the side immediately. I was really interested in crafting. And I was always a child who knew how to entertain themselves, which is also something I never grew out of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kjmadethis.bigcartel.com/products
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kjmadethis?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kjmadethis?si=NXLZKfJnKAnhbvRX
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/bykjmadethis/profilecard/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Image Credits
Dyns lens photography