About Kevin Simpson

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I have been painting most of my life and developed the style and thematic approach you see here in the years after I completed college at Oberlin College in Ohio, where I studied government, East Asian studies, and of course studio art.

 

My paintings are about mood and feel, and I'm most inspired by the idea of a body as a type of landscape.  I like to work from photographs and typically start with a contour-style line drawing of my composition.  I paint in layers and typically develop a composition first as a series of drawings, each drawn from the previous.

 

I paint with acrylic because I like to work in layers, and often build a piece up using complementary colors in four stages--line on ground, underpaintiing in a reverse color, new lines, and then the final color scheme layered on the first three.

 

The image you see to the left is a 10x20 canvas at the third stage...I've completed the original drawings, transferred them to canvas, painted in the complementary underpainted colors, and added fresh versions of the original lines.  The final stage would be the addition of a nearly dry layer of final colors.

 

I was invited to show as a solo artist for the first time in 1997 in Toledo, Ohio, where I showed 17 paintings, all in the 30x48 large canvas format.

 

Since then I have diversified the scale of my pieces as well as the themes and compositions.

 

I have shown in several group shows in Ohio, Florida, and during the past ten years here in the Bay Area.

 

My work hangs around the country in private collections as well as in Italy.  I have sold pieces at a number of charity events and am very much open to donating pieces for Homeless and Shelter Pets, Mental Health, AIDS, and Arts related charitable organizations.