Untitled
Watercolor, Gouache on Wood
36x36in
United States
« Painting is where passion and instinct meet—it’s the thing I was meant to do. »
Shannon McKee first discovered painting in high school in 2009, but it wasn’t until a shift in a promising soccer career at UC Berkeley that painting took center stage. Encouraged by family, she enrolled in a college painting class in 2012, and the support from professors led her to pursue a degree in Art Practice, which she earned in 2015. After graduating, she moved to San Diego, where she opened her first studio and briefly worked as a curator—an experience that helped refine her artistic voice.
Today, her work focuses on large-scale abstract and abstract-expressionist painting, often blending in human forms and portraits. Her intuitive process is driven by movement, emotion, and spontaneity. Flipping the canvas and using a range of tools—from bold palette knives to soft washes—keeps the work fresh and instinctual.
Inspired by the act of painting itself and the highs and lows of everyday life, her goal is not to tell a specific story, but to create space for honesty, energy, and connection. In 2024, she formally launched her art business, offering original works, commissions, and reproductions that reflect her deep love for the creative process.