ABOUT

Ash Oaksmith is a American oil painter living in the Pacific Northwest. She has been painting for twenty years.

Beginning with her great-grandfather, a Finnish blacksmith, art supplies were essential items of home.

Her recent paintings are inspired by the cloud formations of the greater Puget Sound region. She also draws inspiration from travel, from the fjords of Norway to the sweeping landscapes of the Peruvian Andes, memories of childhood summers on the Great Lakes and road trips through the Great Plains states. These experiences are realized through vivid colors and texture in ‘color field landscapes’.

Wind plays an essential role in each of her paintings, and it is the interaction of wind in sweeping landscapes that she thinks about during those first brush strokes. There are times that we seek out change and upheaval, like a howling gale, just as there are times when we need complete stillness and order, like a silent lingering fog or a sunny day. As the daughter of a pilot and now a sailor herself, she has a deep respect for the power of wind—and its gentleness.

Her work is held in private collections across the US, Canada and the UK. Works are usually oil on linen canvas.