Kelly Funabashi is a painter and illustrator based in Astoria, Queens. She creates fantastical abstract landscapes, botanical field studies, figure drawings, and other illustration work using watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, markers, foraged inks, and Procreate.

Her creative process is rooted in daily intuitive practice — working without a plan, moving color around the page, and following wherever it leads. Her work is recognized for its unconventional color palettes and the fusion of geometric and naturalistic imagery. The body of work that emerges over time reflects the full range of her seeing: nature, city life, motherhood, inner landscape, and the world at large. She lives and works in Astoria, Queens with her two young sons.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create fantastical abstract landscapes using watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, markers, foraged inks, and Procreate. I'm shy but deeply curious and passionate — my creative practice began as a way to learn to trust myself and my intuition. I paint every day without knowing what I'm about to put down, moving color around the page and following wherever it leads.

I live in Astoria, Queens, with two young sons. I consider the ocean my home, and nature my temple. The news scares the shit out of me. All of it enters the work as feeling translated into shape, color, shadow, light, energy. I want to move through the world with more openness, more attention, and I want that to be visible in the work. Each painting is an intuitive response to whatever I'm carrying that day: part what I see, part what I dream, part what I need to let go of.