![Cumulous Collective by Kelly Berger 48x48]()
Cumulous Collective by Kelly Berger 48×48″
Kelly Berger. Just look at this fabulous painting. Bold brush strokes, color that says WOW as well as great subject matter! I love this!
Read a bit about Kelly from Kelly (I love stories like hers!); be sure to check out the Brush Strokes Studio website:
Denver painter Kelly Berger embodies mid-life reinvention, having ditched a career in public relations, part-time philanthropic work and full-time parenting for a long-shelved pursuit of painting. Kelly’s contemporary representational art is gaining regional note and is widely collected in the mountain West and beyond.
During her p.r. phase, Kelly took periodic detours to the art world via drawing classes at the Art Students League and Parsons in New York, as well as the League in Denver. At a career crossroads five years ago, she had the opportunity to commit full-time to painting, which had been her passion all along. Kelly was soon showing her work at Denver area galleries and was invited to join Denver’s prominent Brushstrokes Studio-Gallery as it’s fourth artist/partner in early 2012.
“Years in the marketing arena have informed the underlying graphic structure of my work,” Kelly explains. “I’m drawn to strong color, powerful contrast, and dramatic perspective. In terms of process, I’ve recently turned to painting studies en plein air, complementing visual information from my own photography. My formative years in Nebraska and college in Iowa are evidenced in pieces depicting rural towns and plains; my family’s zeal for Colorado mountain life inspires mountain and ski themes; and several years in NYC has driven my passionate focus on urban themes.”
Artistically, Kelly has been further exploring elements of abstraction—casting aside detail where possible, honing in on the center of interest, and letting the viewer mentally “finish” of the piece. “This is hardly and original goal, but one I’m pursuing nonetheless,” she explains. Her medium of choice is primarily acrylic due to its immediacy. “Today’s pro acrylics are not your granny’s chalky stuff; I find I can build the painting more quickly without risk of muddy color, as is the risk with oil. I actually have had galleries sell my work assuming they are oil paintings.
Though largely self-taught, and a voracious student of the masters, Kelly credits Denver artist Mark D. Nelson with much of her evolution, having attended his studio class regularly for years. She also thanks her partners at Brushstrokes for their tutelage in painting and the art business.
All images via BrushStrokeStudio.com, used with permission from the artist…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
