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Work Samples

riverbed 5of10.jpg

#acrylic#workson paper#climatechange#drought
Riverbed 5 of 10 acrylic on paper 15 x 22 inches 2020

Ice Floe 7.jpg

#icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
Ice Floe 7 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2019

Maximum Value (left view)

#oilpainting;#auroras;#solarflares
Maximum Value 2014-2016 oil on canvas over panel Grid of 100 (12 x 12 inches each) 68 x 268.5 inches (installed)

YBRNM.jpg

#YBRNM#landscape#oilpainting#southwest
YBR;NM oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72 inches 2013

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About Kate

Baltimore City - Station North A&E District

Kate MacKinnon's picture
My work is based on observation and process. I methodically build my oil paintings out of layers of transparent glaze. This slow and meditative process creates luminous color and a richness of surface that references industrial finishes. Experimenting with paint application has become essential to my practice. In my most recent work, I examine the visual evidence of climate change. It is my hope that these paintings lead the viewer to contemplate the dire circumstances that have inspired them... more

Riverbed 2020

I have been painting exclusively in my home studio for the past year. Covid-19 stay at home restrictions lead to a decision to work exclusively in water based paint for as long as I continue to paint inside of my home. I began several projects in acrylic on paper that explore the same ideas and imagery pertaining to climate change that I had been working with in my most recent oil paintings. Layering and in-process color mixing necessitated an adaptation to the quickness of these materials.The switch to a water based, and faster drying media has created a new avenue of material and paint application experimentations.

Polar Ice 2020

I have been painting exclusively in my home studio for the past year. Covid-19 stay at home restrictions lead to a decision to work exclusively in water based paint for as long as I continue to paint inside of my home. I began several projects in acrylic on paper that explore the same ideas and imagery pertaining to climate change that I had been working with in my most recent oil paintings. Layering and in-process color mixing necessitated an adaptation to the quickness of these materials.The switch to a water based, and faster drying media has created a new avenue of material and paint application experimentations.

Riverbed 2017- 2019

A series of paintings and material studies that explore the patterns found in dry riverbeds

  • Riverbed 9

    #Riverbed 9,#climatechange,#abstractpainting,#oilpainting
    Riverbed 9 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2019
  • Riverbed 8

    #riverbed8#climatechange#oilpainting
    Riverbed 8 Oil on canvas over panel 6 x 12 inches 2019
  • Riverbed 7

    #riverbed7#climatechange#oilpainting
    Riverbed 7 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2019
  • Riverbed 6

    #riverbed6#climatechange#oilpainting
    Riverbed 6 Oil on panel 8 x 8 inches 2017
  • Riverbed 4

    #abstractpainting#oil#climate change
    Riverbed 4 Oil on Panel 8 x 8 inches 2017
  • Riverbed 3

    #riverbed3#climatechange#oilpainting
    Riverbed 3 Oil on panel 8 x 8 inches 2017
  • Riverbed 2

    #abstractpainting#acrylic#climate change
    Riverbed 2 Acrylic on panel 8 x 8 inches 2017
  • Riverbed 1

    #abstractpainting#acrylic#climate change
    Riverbed 1 acrylic on panel 8 x 8 inches 2017

Ice Floes 2016 - 2019

A series of paintings based on the patterns found in polar ice

  • Ice Floe 9

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 9 Oil on panel 11 x 14 inches 2019
  • Ice Floe 8

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 8 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2019
  • Ice Floe 7

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 7 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2019
  • Ice Floe 5

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 5 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2016
  • Ice Floe 4

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 4 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2016
  • Ice Floe 3

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 3 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2016
  • Ice Floe 2

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 2 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2016
  • Ice Floe 1

    #icefloe#climatechange#oilpainting
    Ice Floe 1 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2016

Maximum Value 2014-2016

A color story told across a grid of 100 paintings. The imagery interprets the journey of a CME (coronal mass ejection) through space to Earth where it results in the appearance of the auroras.

Looking Closely at Things I Haven't Seen 2014-2015

A second body of work exploring the CME and Aurora imagery. This series interprets the theme of the 4 Seasons as a color story.

Solar Flares, Black Holes, Nebulas 2013-2016

2013 - 2016
A series of paintings based on  NASA sattelite images of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, auroras, black holes, and nebulas.

  • Black Hole 2

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    Black Hole 2 2016 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches
  • BlackHole 5

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    Black Hole 5 2016 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches
  • Nebula 2

    #abstractpainting#oil#nasa
    Nebula 2 Oil on canvas over panel 12 x 12 inches 2016
  • Nebula 3

    #abstractpainting#oil#nasa
    Nebula 3 Oil on canvas over panel 12 x 12 inches 2016
  • CME Study 1

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 18 x 18
  • CME Study 2

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 18 x 18
  • CME Study 3

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes#oilpainting;#auroras#solarflares
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 18 x 18
  • CME Study 4

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 18 x 18
  • CME Study 5

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 18 x 18
  • CME Study 6

    #oilpainting,#auroras,#solarflares,#blackholes,#icefloes
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 18 x 18

Neither Here Nor There 2013

In January of 2009 I drove across the country from Baltimore to Portland Oregon.  When I wasn’t behind the wheel, I was documenting the landscape in hundreds of photos. These images played in my head for almost four years. Specifically, the dramatic landscape of the Southwestern leg of our travels, and the interesting juxtaposition of man-made interruptions to these amazing big sky vistas.

Inspired by the color studies of Josef Albers, these paintings explore the color relationships and palette of those American Southwest landscapes.

The floating square was used as a repeating element throughout the series.  It contrasts the natural versus the man-made while creating a visual tension between illusionistic space and the two-dimensional picture plane.

  • YBR, NM

    #oilpainting,#landscape,#abstraction,#southwest
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72
  • eight days in a prius

    #oilpainting,#landscape,#abstraction,#southwest
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72
  • YRB, NM

    #oilpainting,#landscape,#abstraction,#southwest
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72
  • the open door, NM

    #oilpainting,#landscape,#abstraction,#southwest
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72
  • BRY, AZ

    #oilpainting,#landscape,#abstraction,#southwest
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72
  • RYB, NM

    #oilpainting,#landscape,#abstraction,#southwest
    2013 oil on canvas over panel 36 x 72
  • Yellow 1

    #abstractpainting#oil#contemporaryart
    Yellow 1 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2013
  • Blue 2

    #abstractpainting#oil#contemporaryart
    Blue 2 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2013
  • Blue 1

    #abstractpainting#oil#contemporaryart
    Blue 1 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2013
  • Red 1

    #abstractpainting#oil#contemporaryart
    Red 1 Oil on canvas over panel 24 x 24 inches 2013

Post-Arcadia 2013

Post-Arcadia is an exploration of a world that is rapidly becoming both paler and darker. Arcadia, as depicted by Renaissance painters, is a beacon of unspoiled wilderness. Post-Arcadia is a vision of our present environment through a lens of homage and memory. These dystopian landscapes were inspired by a very lucid dream. The bands of color in each piece recall a more abundant world.

Into the Woods 2008

These landscape inspired paintings were the result of a surprise encounter with an urban bamboo forest and a fascination with the patterns of birch trees.

Connect with Kate

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Kate's Curated Collection

This artist has not yet created a curated collection.