About The Artist

I’m Kelly Stevens-McLaughlan, an artist based in Devon in the south west of the UK, working primarily in acrylics. My paintings are rooted in a love of colour, pattern, and storytelling, often centred around animals and botanical forms, and shaped by the landscape and pace of life around me.

I’m drawn to the idea of giving character to my subjects — not in a literal or cartoon sense, but through posture, expression, and atmosphere. Many of my paintings sit somewhere between portrait and still life, with a quiet narrative running beneath the surface.

Animals appear again and again in my work — not symbolically, but because they’re part of daily life in the studio and tend to quietly steal the scene. Their presence brings humour, individuality, and an unforced sense of character that I’m drawn to explore in paint.

My studio practice is energetic and hands-on. I work intuitively and often in sustained bursts, building paintings through layering, texture, and pattern. I’m interested in how colour can create both movement and calm within the same piece, and in making work that feels lively and considered rather than overly controlled.

Alongside my original paintings, I produce limited edition prints, carefully printed to retain the richness, detail, and surface quality of the originals.