Kelly Washbourne

Kelly studied Fine Art at Falmouth University. She has been exhibiting since 2003 in the UK, New York, LA, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Singapore. She lives and works in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire.

Kelly’s oil paintings layer colour on colour in a rhythm that unfolds slowly to the completed piece. Through the process of layering, she is constantly letting the surface below imply greater depths and tones. The light and the dark contrast to create constantly changing focal points within the abstract whole.

Kelly finds her inspiration in the landscape and in particular, Cornwall. She is influenced by the freedom, bravery and liberty of The New York School artists, drawing on the Expressionists of the 1940s and 50s. Painters such as Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as Gillian Ayres and Peter Lanyon hold a special regard with Kelly. Likewise, contemporary artists such as Cecily Brown and Rose Wylie, although figurative, continue to influence her work.

Kelly’s genius is in her ability to marry an edgy experimentalism with sheer joy and liberty.