Katie Trinkle-Legge

Katie was born in New York City. She spent most of her life on the east coast of the USA in the Hudson Valley and Nantucket Island. She graduated with a BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1988. She began exhibiting her paintings shortly after that time. She relocated to Waiheke Island with her Kiwi husband Darren in 2010. Her sunlit studio is surrounded by natural beauty and light.

While in University she focused on classical painting and drawing techniques. From there her practice evolved to become a contemporary approach to painting. Her colour pallet and larger than life compositions invite the viewer into the canvas. They are created primarily in oils.

‘I refer to my works as atmospheric realism. I am not trying to reproduce an exact image of the objects I select as subjects. Instead, I let them become one image in a harmonious space. A painting takes 6 to 7 sittings. I work over the entire canvas and then let the layers dry. This is how the colour resonance is created.’

Currently she exhibits her work in The USA and New Zealand.