Shelly Maudsley White

Creating Contemporary Watercolors

Shelly’s fresh approach to painting is inspired by over 35 years living in the Hawaiian Islands. Born in 1962, she moved from California in 1972. In her early memories she describes her first impressions of Hawaii as going from a black and white film into a Technicolor wonderland. That beauty significantly still inspires her art to this day. She has been painting watercolors since the age 14, experimenting with added media and selling her artwork since the age 17. Although she took a few art classes in her teens, she is primarily a self taught artist.

At 20 years of age she attended interior design school, but found herself constantly wanting to design the art for each space, a talent which she now uses to this day. She describes her work not as realism, but having an almost graphic naturalistic quality to it. She composes each piece paying close attention to patterns, shadows, back lighting, and detail giving the viewer an intimate look at her subjects. Whether her subject is a floral, a native bird, or a local reef fish, her style remains bold, vibrant, and larger than life.

Her paintings range in size from the standard 22” x 30” to 117” x 60” murals on paper, to her sought after diptychs and triptychs. Shelly gives all glory to God, in her opinion, the ultimate artist, and for allowing her to use this talent to capture the blessings of nature. Shelly currently resides on the Big Island of Hawaii with her husband, three children, 5 cows, 4 horses, 3 cats, 1 dog and numerous chickens.