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Kim Keith figured it was time to lighten up.

For her part of "Kindred Spirits," an Artists' Gallery of Steamboat show opening with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. today as part of the First Friday Artwalk, Keith broke away from her usual black-and-white photography to capture a little youth.

"I figured it would be kind of a breath of fresh air to people," Keith said, describing a series of brightly colored photos depicting butterflies. The project also was a breath of fresh air for Keith, who typically shoots bodyscapes on black and white film.

"I think that's partly where I am. I need to lighten my soul a little bit, instead of looking deeply into things. I need to find joy in the simple things," she said.

The photos are inspired by the fictional character Audrey Rose, who Keith describes as bare-footed, bare-breasted and free-spirited. For the photo shoot, author Dagny McKinley - who created Audrey Rose - posed as her character at The Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster.

"This is probably the most joyful experience I've ever had with photography," Keith said.

Operators of The Butterfly Pavilion allowed Keith and McKinley to come into the garden and take photos for two hours early one morning this fall, before the facility opened to the public.

"I felt like a little girl again, because there were all these butterflies floating around all over the place," Keith said. It's possible the insects were moving slower, given the early morning timing of Keith's photo shoot. In any case, the resulting images capture the butterflies up close, looking them right in their tiny bug eyeballs.

The lightened, inspired feel of Keith's photos runs throughout "Kindred Spirits," which also features watercolor paintings by Mary Levingston and oil pastels on silk by Leslie Bell. Levingston said her paintings, which depict local scenes during the past 18 months, are not necessarily exact landscapes.

"I'd rather paint the mood of a place, rather than the exact replica of a place," Levingston said, adding that she tends to see an image, then recreate it later to fit her style.

"I'm inspired by a place, and I may start a painting somewhere, but then I go back to the studio and I try to copy down the visceral things," Levingston said. Those elements can include the way a place smells or the feeling it imparts. Levingston doesn't hesitate to take artistic liberties - in a painting of the water near the Yampa River Botanic Park, she moved trees so they were spaced less formally.

"I'll look at a piece of paper, and I'll envision something," Levingston said. "I call them my 'innerscapes.' : I pull them from my experiences."

Bell's oil pastels on silk have a moonlit look, with the colors grouping together on the rough fabric. The technique Bell used for the series featured in "Kindred Spirits" originated when she was asked to draw a work on fabric in an art class. She chose raw silk as her fabric, and when she applied oil pastel, the medium got caught in the silk's rough surface.

"People have said it reminds them of pointillism a little bit," Bell said. Her work often focuses on seasonal scenes, though the "Kindred Spirits" show includes one image of a butterfly.

"Kindred Spirits" will be on display at the Artists' Gallery of Steamboat through the end of January. The gallery features three of its member artists in a new show opening on the first Friday on each month.