Minnesota artist Deb Kirkeeide has a knack for creating enduring animal portraits full of personality and spirit.
Deb originally started her career in commercial art and design, but shifted toward the fine arts after attending a week-long plein air workshop in 2005, where she says she found “an awakened sense of passion for painting and nature.”
That passion definitely shows in Deb’s work. . . probably the first thing you’ll notice is the emotion she puts into her subject matter.
Besides creating an emotional connection with her viewers, Deb also incorporates beautiful texture, color and composition.
Her large brushstrokes keep her paintings light and fresh, while still achieving a great deal of nuance and detail.
Naturally, when doing animal portraits it’s important to capture the playful, quirky personality of each pet, and to this end, Deb keeps her backgrounds fairly simple so that the focus remains on the animal.
Deb also paints animals found in nature, with the same attention to personality. The inquisitive raven below is one great example.
To experience more of Deb Kirkeeide’s wonderful animal artwork, I’d encourage you to visit her website and daily painting blog. As a bonus, you’ll also find many lovely landscape, figurative and still life works.
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