Cape Cod Life Magazine
When Denise Kelly isn't painting, she's thinking about it. "Whatever I'm doing, another layer of me is observing as if I am painting," she says. "Painting is a passion—it dominates my life right now:' While painting has been a life-long interest, it has become a full-time commitment, if not obsession, since her move to the Cape.
An elegant, precise woman, Kelly has transferred the professionalism, creativity; and precision of her former career as a successful fashion designer to her current passion for painting. In a relatively short time she has established herself as one of the Cape's most "talked-about" new artists. Kelly and her husband had vacationed on the Cape for many years, and retired in Truro in 1991, where they built a home above a kettle pond looking across the bay to Provincetown. The move has provided opportunity and inspiration for her second career. "Although I was born in Paris, and lived in Manhattan for many years, at heart, I'm not a city person," says Kelly. "I couldn't find beauty in the city; but here I find beauty everywhere:' She has embraced her surroundings and has found peace and tranquillity in her studio.
Kelly, who has been influenced by Helen Van Wyk and her teacher and mentor, Curtis Rosser, renders her landscapes and town scenes in a painterly fashion. Although many of Kelly's early paintings were portraits and still lifes, it is the Cape landscape that has ignited her creativity.
Bob Roark of Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts in Brewster said he was intrigued by Kelly's "dramatic composition" and actively recruited her for his gallery; She came to his attention after she won the"Best in Show" award in the 1997 Leo Diehl Show. "When I'm looking for an artist, the two things I'm interested in are the ability to paint well and differently," says Roark. Kelly, whom Roark refers to as a "master of atiophere," has scored in both categories. Oil is her favorite medium because of its "sensuousness and myriad of colors" and she uses it skillfully to create "strongly tonalistic and vibrant landscapes," Roark says. "She is so skillful and precise, and her paintings have such immediacy; that you can almost tell the time of day."
Although Kelly finds her work fulfilling, her exacting standards also contribute to a sense of frustration. "I don't want to be rushed—I want to devote as much time as each painting requires," she says. Kelly loves the problem-solving aspects of painting, and commits tremendous time and energy to capturing atmosphere. "The more observant I've become, the more Jam able to translate details to my painting. It's tremendously satisfying when you get it right?'
Her husband, a retired executive of a large brokerage firm in Manhattan, is a Provincetown native, and was at one time a commercial fisherman. He is supportive and enthusiastic about Kelljy's painting and has become her resident consultant on the accuracy and detail of the many boats which have become favorite subjects for her paintings.
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The Artistic Forum
Like most artists, Denise Kelly remembers that she always hoped that one day that she too would be an artist.
Even when she was earning a living as a fashion designer in New York, she says the thought of painting was never far from her mind. But the demands of a fast-paced, competitive career allowed little leeway for indulging a pastime, no matter how much she wanted it. She tried, to be sure, but never progressed beyond it being an occasional luxury.
It wasn't until she retired, and she and her husband, David, moved to the Cape, that her dream of a career as an artist would be fulfilled. "I knew that when I retired I'd go back to painting." What she didn't expect was that the learning process would be as exhilarating, or painful or as frustrating as it was.
Read the full article here.
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MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
INTERNATIONAL GUILD OF REALISM, SCOTTSDALE, AZ
CAPE COD MUSEUM OF ART, DENNIS, MA
ARTS FOUNDATION OF CAPE COD, CENTERVILLE, MA
CREATIVE ARTS CENTER in CHATHAM, CHATHAM, MA
PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOC. and MUSEUM, PROVINCETOWN, MA
CAPE COD ART ASSOCIATION, DENNIS, MA.