Erin O'Brien-Kenna

ABOUT ME

I am an artist who specializes in photo-realism in oils. I have been drawing people and clothing since I could hold a crayon, that always being my prime subject of interest.

Graduating high school with a love and passion for all things fashion, I attended the legendary Traphagen School of Design in Manhattan on a scholarship award, when I took second place in the Traphagen-sponsored East Coast Design Contest in the early 80's, and spent two years majoring in Illustration.

There, I learned the old-school methods of hands-on Fashion Illustration in watercolors and pencils on paper and board, in a time when Photoshop and Illustrator were merely a dream... but it was to my great advantage, as one had to create their art by hand and to perfection the first time around, or else, start from scratch. The school was influential in teaching me to hone my craft of executing fabrics and textures. I also at that time had great inspiration in the art of Antonio Lopez, Stavrinos, and Patrick Nagel as my mentors.

I started experimenting with oils on canvas in 1986, with no formal training in oil painting whatsoever...Once I got my hand in it, however, a new world opened up to me, and I've been painting ever since; people and ...