Kellie Day: Whimsical Mixed Media Collage

By Cassie Rief in Featured Artists > Mixed-media Art

Colorado artist Kellie Day creates fun-filled, quirky collages on canvas guaranteed to make you embrace your child-like wonder and indulge in your most sensuous fantasies.

Surrounded by a limitless playground of mountains, biking trails, rivers and wildlife, Kellie lets her creative juices run wild. Simply put? She can make magic out of the ordinary, and coax a beautiful dance out of a stagnant object.

“My artistic process of mixed media on canvas often begins with watercolor and acrylic on rice paper. The process of adhering this paper to canvas distorts whatever I have painted in unexpected ways,” Kellie says. “I love how out of control it gets.”

So do I. Check out Graffiti On Your Body below. Inspired by a night of enjoying martinis and riding bikes with a good friend, Kellie created an ultra-feminine collage commemorating the night with floral patterns, hearts and lavish style.

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Could this predominantly rose-colored palette hint toward the color of glasses one might look through after a deliciously chilled drink or two? Or, maybe it signifies a time when all is right with the world—when you are wholeheartedly enjoying a night on the town, exploring buildings and architecture you may have seen a hundred times before.

This time, though, biking block-by-block in the presence of good company, it is as if you are seeing it all for the first time, through new eyes.

Romance, drama and fantasy: these are the things of which pulp art—and Pulp Marcel, seen below—are made. (Well, you know, along with Japanese newspapers, oriental take-out menus, torn out pages from a Danielle Steele romance novel and a wrapper from a pair of stockings Kellie bought at a local boutique.) However, all play a scintillatingly authentic role in the creation of this piece.

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Seductive and feminine, Pulp Marcel combines pin-up style flirtation with ball-busting, coy flair. Homage to the wiles of a boisterous woman, it’d almost be too much if I could get enough of it!

Hardly anything is more capable of filling a room with vibrant fragrance than a bouquet of peonies. Full-bodied and luxuriously creamy, these flowers are so aromatic that they almost overtake your nostrils—or the boundaries of the canvas below.

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Jolting lime green and robin’s egg blue counteract the soft, subtle delicateness of the flowers, creating a colorful collage that bursts with blissful charm. Kellie has used netting, thick white paper, real leaves (at least, that’s what my eyes see) and lightly-accented copy for yet another level of vivaciousness.

If looking at Kellie’s paintings hasn’t stolen away your entire day, then by all means, check out her website for further insight into her fascinating art and life.

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