Kellie Day is an experiential artist, meaning, he typically develops a relationship with his subjects before painting them. For instance, to paint snow-covered mountains, he hikes to the top and skis down. When these images start simmering in his brain, this is the seed of his work. Day grew up in the Midwest in industrial towns. He likes those places because they are authentic (even though they are tough, ugly and rugged), and because the people there are hard working and real. His mother is an artist and his dad built coal-fired power plants. He went to college in Indiana, and graduated with a BA in Advertising and a minor in Art, and took a graphic design job in Joliet IL for a company that manufactures fiberglass. That’s all it took to send him straight out west for fifteen years of fire fighting, voracious traveling, climbing wilderness and working as a ranger. Arizona, Montana, Idaho, California, Alaska, and lots of 3rd world countries.
His life experience inspired many commercial art and illustrations. In between travels he brainstormed graphic design projects and he finally stopped to catch his breath in Ridgway, Colorado, where he now runs a painting and graphic design studio, and raise his 9-year old son. It’s his goal to inspire and spread beauty. He likes the way images mix with words, and often adds chocolate wrappers, Chinese take-out containers, and torn pages of books to his paintings that can be attractive to the viewer. His artistic medium is mixed media on canvas.
