Snowdon Kinney

This current series, “Land/Sea/Sky,” is inspired by the colors and atmosphere of Tahiti. My abstract landscapes and seascapes are calm, contemplative works that echo the beauty of nature. Since we live in a noisy and demanding world, I want to take the viewer to a quiet place, where they can discover feelings of peace, relaxation, and warmth.

My works are abstract, large in scale, and I like to keep the structure simple. I use horizontal bands as a kind of scaffolding. The paintings are all about color relationships. I often use grays and other neutrals to give the eye a place to rest, but then use vibrant colors to make the paintings come alive. I take a beautiful three dimensional world and distill it onto a two-dimensional plane. In this way I bring the viewer the essence of the landscape or seascape, places which have given me so much joy.
My process is physical and exuberant. I

start with unstretched canvases, and may work on several paintings at once. I paint in a loose style, creating layer upon layer of depth, but I also use extra thinners to create a sense of transparency. I love it when accidents happen, when drips or spills find their way into my work. A painting is finished when the work feels settled, and distilled.

Snowdon Kinney is a San Francisco Bay Area artist. She creates both realistic and abstract large scale paintings. She has a degree in Fine Art from the Maine College of Art, and also studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design and the California College of the Arts. She worked as a graphic designer in New York City and Chicago before moving to the Bay Area 20 years ago.

Many artists have inspired me. I like David Hockney because he broke all the rules. Cezanne taught me about structure and composition, and I love his dappled colors. I admire John Singer Sargent for his brilliant palette of blues and greens. And of course, I pay homage to Gauguin, for revealing the beauty of Tahiti.

oil painting, abstract landscapes