Welcome to my website! My name is Chelsea, I'm a self-taught acrylic painter who specializes primarily in landscapes and urbanscapes. I'm originally from Rochester, NY and currently living in Central Massachusetts.
I tend to start off my story by straightforwadly mentioning that I don't have a traditional art background -- I dropped out of art school in 2010 and spent over 10 years without ever completing anything more than a handful of drawings in my free time. In late 2021, I felt a pull towards painting again -- something I hadn't seriously done since my senior year of high school. I put together some paintings as gifts for friends and family, and from there I decided on a whim to start selling, taking on commissions, and signing up for art shows. My start to my professional fine art business has been modest but steadily growing over the past 2 years.
As a painter, I'm heavily drawn to unassuming beauty. My scenes are based off of photos taken by myself or friends and family. When I first started painting again at the end of 2021, I was convinced the only thing worth painting were grand vistas and awe-inspiring views, featuring subjects from canyons and mountains and national forests. Personally sourcing material from those settings never proved to be very realistic, so I've had to settle on scoping out interesting subjects in the quiet lower-middle class suburbs I grew up in, and the more modest nature areas that surrounded me at home. To my suprise, when I looked to what I had around me to paint, I found I was producing the pieces that resonated the most strongly with viewers. I found I've captured a nostalgia and a warmth that is both universal and deeply personal for many of the individuals who comment on my work. I've loved the discussions about what a particular scene from one of my paintings reminds someone of, and how it prompts people to put to words what a particular piece makes them feel.
While I may still paint a national park from time to time, it has remained my primary goal to keep seeking out those emotions and experiences of nostalgia in my work.
If you have any questions about what you see on my website, please feel free to email me either through my contact page on the menu above, or you can email me directly at [email protected].