Meet Artist Kelli Noteman O'Brien

Kelli Noteman O’Brien

O-069 Egret's Grace by kelli Noteman O'Brian wc 32x40 $550

            Kelli Noteman O’Brien is a California native who grew up with the Stanislaus National Forest as her “backyard.”  Today she enjoys riding horses and camping throughout the high country she came to love as a child generally with a camera or paint brush in her hand.

A love of nature is revealed in her art where she often chooses animals, flowers and Sierra Nevada landscapes as her subjects.  Kelli feels a special kinship with birds which are frequently featured in her work. 

Today Kelli shares her love of art working with kids of all ages as an art specialist teaching at Sonora Elementary School.  As a life-long learner, she counts her most influential teachers as Joel Barber, Dianne Stearns, Dale Laitenin and Martha Wallace.  Her rodeo bull painting “Eliminator” was featured on the 2009 Mother Lode Round-Up poster.  In 2012, she was awarded the blue ribbon for her watercolor “Mendocino Poppies” at the Mother Lode Art Association’s Fall Art Show in Sonora, California.

 Though she also enjoys block printing, acrylic painting and ceramics, watercolor is her first love.  “Watercolors have a life of their own; they are spontaneous and lively.    I enjoy watching the colors move and interact.  They are versatile, exciting, and, yes, challenging,” she expressed. 

Today, Kelli and her husband, Al O’Brien, live on a small ranch they’ve named Banjo Ranch with their two horses, seven chickens, and many bird and wildlife feeders.