Peggy Christiansen

Peggy Christiansen is a Stanford-educated graphic designer and oil painter based in Los Altos Hills, California. Inspired by the landscapes of California, she often begins with small plein air studies, later expanding them in the studio where observation gives way to interpretation.

Working in a contemporary impressionistic style, Christiansen builds her paintings with layered transparent and opaque color over a distinctive reddish underpainting that radiates warmth from within the canvas. Distant hills dissolve into softness, forms sharpen as they move forward, and subtle shifts in light create a sense of depth and atmosphere. As each piece evolves, the original landscape gradually loosens its hold, allowing memory and imagination to reshape it into something quieter, more contemplative, and gently dreamlike.