Kelley Sutphin

Education

American Academy of Art, Chicago 2002-2006

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Painting is a compulsion and a form of therapy as I spend hours in my own world, creating a whole new one before my eyes. My award-winning artworks have been exhibited in numerous California galleries and published internationally. Some favorite subjects range from romantic myths and fairytales to beautiful animals and nature. My style naturally flows towards figurative and surrealist styles since it challenges my skills as a painter and dares me to bring inspired visions of the imagination into the three-dimensional world through careful rendering and planning. For me to feel I have created a successful piece of art, I must achieve a balance between a strong narrative, technical mastery and aesthetic harmony. I have also learned that part of the process of bringing a painting to life involves trusting in its ability to be what it wants to be as if it has a perspective of its own in the matter. It becomes a push and pull of following the plan and improvising.

I gained a formal education in art as far back as grade school. My district had an amazing art program and I continued to develop my education at the American Academy of Art in Chicago with a major in oil painting. Part of my mission through art is to infuse the world around me with all sorts of wonderful, beautiful things that excite the eye and connect us to spirit.