Meet Kelly Peters
I’m a visual artist based in Colorado, painting the American West through color, movement, texture, and memory.
I grew up skiing outside Detroit, which somehow led to one winter in Aspen as a ski bum. That winter turned into a life in the mountains—and eventually a painting practice and business shaped by the landscapes, people, and slightly unconventional life I found here.
My paintings aren't meant to document a landscape exactly as it exists. I'm more interested in what a place feels like: the scale of a mountain, changing light, open space, movement, weather, and the memories we attach to places we love. I build each painting intuitively through washes, drawing, layered acrylic and oil, allowing the image to shift and reveal itself as I work.
Over the years, my work has been featured in Forbes and Condé Nast Traveler and collected by private collectors, hospitality spaces, and brands including Lululemon, Urban Outfitters, and Zadig & Voltaire.
Today, my practice extends beyond the studio to commissions, large-scale murals, live painting, workshops, and creative collaborations throughout the American West and beyond.
I’m especially drawn to projects with a strong sense of place, a little creative freedom, and people who want to make something that couldn't exist anywhere else.
For commissions, murals, partnerships, or experiences, get in touch through the inquiry form.
Work With Me
Original Paintings & Commissions
One-of-a-kind works and custom paintings created for collectors, homes, hospitality, and commercial spaces.
Murals & Large-Scale Installations
Site-specific artwork for hotels, brands, developments, public spaces, and private properties.
Brand Partnerships & Creative Collaborations
Custom artwork, campaigns, experiential activations, editorial projects, and collaborative concepts.
Live Painting & Art Experiences
Artist-led experiences for retreats, events, weddings, corporate groups, and hospitality.
Artist Statement
My work is rooted in the landscape of the American West, but I’m less interested in painting a literal place than in capturing the experience of being there.
Mountains, desert, changing weather, topography, movement, and open space become a starting point. From there, the landscape is broken apart and rebuilt through color, line, texture, abstraction, and memory.
My process is physical and intuitive. Paintings often begin on the floor with loose washes of watered-down acrylic pigment. I layer, remove, draw, scrape, and respond to what develops before moving the canvas upright and building more deliberate forms and details. Acrylic, oil, drawing materials, and visible marks are allowed to coexist rather than disappear beneath a finished surface.
My background in classical oil painting gave me an understanding of traditional technique, but much of my practice has been about learning when to abandon it. I’m interested in the tension between control and accident, representation and abstraction, and the recognizable landscape and the emotional memory of it.
Ultimately, I want the paintings to feel like places you somehow recognize—even when they don't quite exist.
Curriculum Vitae
Press & Publications
