Kristen Olson Stone

“I had the wonderful experience of living in New Zealand for 2 1/2 years. I visited this lovely country several times prior to moving there with my family. While there, I painted full time and taught several workshops. I joined local art groups and made wonderful friends. I fell in love with the nature and scenery, especially a small, seaside town called Mangawhai. I feel that these 5 paintings are some of my best works of art, all of them were inspired by my time spent at this lovely and unique place in the world. I used Rembrandt oil paints and Rembrandt Cobra oil paints for all of these works. New Zealand is very clean, there is almost no pollution there lending an unusual clarity to the landscape and seascape. Using high quality Rembrandt paints helped me to capture these clear, beautiful colors in everything I painted there. If you’d like a list of the specific palette of colors I used in any of these works, email me at kristenpaints@gmail.com.
I am fortunate to have another painting in this series in the corporate collection of ASB Bank. ( Australian Savings Bank). I believe that I am also the only artist to have a painting in the Obama White House as well as The New Zealand Parliament.”

— Kristen Olson Stone

Full Moon Tide, Mangawhai

Cobra Oil on Canvas, 33x48, 2018
$5995

This painting depicts a place which is very dear to my heart. As a landscape artist, I take time to connect with my subject in a non verbal way, I feel very fortunate that I was able to spend several weeks at Mangawhai which is a beach town located in Kaipara on the east coast of The North Island of New Zealand.

Mangawhai Heads Beach is a very long, wide, sandy beach that inspired this painting as well as several others. I swam there, painted "en plein air”, there and walked the beach twice a day.

Every evening, we walked there with our 2 dogs. From the parking lot, we would follow the sandy path shown in my painting, through the carefully preserved sand dunes and dune grasses. This special work of art captures the soft glow of the evening light as well as a special time of year with a subtly painted full moon and a very high tide. The islands in the distance are The Hen And Chicken Islands. The long, sinuous, evenly spaced waves of this beach are a favorite of surfers, the water is shallow for a long distance. The east coast of New Zealand is known for its wide, beautiful beaches and tranquil water.

Last Light, Mangawhai

Cobra Oil on Canvas, 30x40, 2018
$4900

All sides are 2” deep, painted and piece is wired and ready to hang.

This painting captures the last rays of the afternoon sun filtering through the dune grasses and casting soft violet gray shadows on the sand. These colors are echoed in the painting on the distant hills that line the beach. There are a lot of interesting grey, sculptural, lava rock formations which I included in this painting. Steep hills with green grass, flowers and a variety of native trees frame the beach. Cows and sheep are grazing here and there and there are just a handful of homes. As a society, Kiwi’s love nature and seem to have a great appreciation for time spent outdoors. Many have beach homes that they call “batches”. We stayed in a few different batches around Mangawhai and grew to love the community. This painting captures the simple beauty of the nature of Mangawhai.

All of the original paintings are for sale and prints + a variety of products featuring these images are available on my website at: http://www.kristenolsonstone.com/

Tide Pool I

Cobra Oil on Canvas, 40x60, 2018
$6900

All 4 sides are painted to match the front, wired and ready to hang.

At the far end of Mangawhai Heads Beach in New Zealand there is a large, lava rock formation with dozens of tide pools. Since childhood, I have loved exploring tide pools, I created this painting from multiple photos I took during many visits to this special place. As this beach is in a relatively remote place in the world, the tide pools are filled with life. I marvel at the way the ocean randomly deposits shells and shell fragments, there is so much beauty and texture in the disorganization. This painting is a composition of small, lovely shapes of river rocks in various colors that have washed down from a nearby water fall, shells, iridescent shell fragments and shallow water gently moving through the tide pool. This painting is the first in my tide pool series. These exploratory paintings are designed to be both soothing and interesting.

Contact the Artist:

Email: kristenpaints@gmail.com
Website: www.kristenolsonstone.com