I create images which light up people's lives, opening them to deeper perceptions. · Sausalito, CA
Kay
Carlson
Original Fine Art Catalog
Available Artwork
“Sausalito plein air colorist painting the bay, the Marin coast and the wine country in oil, and co-founder of Marin Open Studios.”
— Kay Carlson
The Process
Inside the Studio
The Painting Process
The Painting Process Kay paints where the light happens. She chooses places whose "essence and story are more than contours and lines": the Sausalito waterfront near her studio, the coast when waves, clouds and atmosphere create visual drama, and the Napa and Sonoma vineyards in autumn, where she sets up an outdoor easel with a palette "vibrant with scarlet autumn vines". Working en plein air, she builds each painting in layers: thin washes of oil paint first, then thick, confident brushstrokes on top. She looks for color inside the shadows, the place where, in her words, she finds her inspiration. The small location studies she paints outdoors often become the starting point for larger studio canvases, where she can push the color and the drama further. Beyond canvas, she paints on slabs of Carrara and Portuguese marble, letting the stone become part of the landscape. Collectors can also commission a painting of a favorite place or a special memory; Kay helps choose the size that fits the room. Every painting can also be made as an archival eight-colour print with master printmaker Craig Kolb, pencil signed, numbered and with a certificate of authenticity. She describes her paintings as "a joyful meditation on seeing, a dialogue in paint with the seasons, water, and land."
