My passion for art started early and has taken me and my little canoe from the West to the East and back again. After graduating from college with a degree in painting here in the Pacific Northwest, I rowed my canoe of creativity to New York to try my hands at pastry making. I excelled in my classes at the French Culinary Institute and stayed on in New York for 4 years to improve my skills at cake decorating, sugar sculpting and painting with food coloring.

When I grew tired of the chaos and the hustle and bustle, my canoe and I returned to Portland to explore my newfound love of illustration.

I started small by creating unique and whimsical show posters and album covers for local bands. As my work grew, developed, and became more recognizable, I started getting more frequent requests for custom pieces and prints of my work. That's when I decided to open up an etsy shop. I bought a handy dandy Epson photo quality printer and started doing everything myself from start to finish. After certain success, I was eventually able to quit my day job and run my little canoe full time!

I feel so lucky to have ended up in such an inspiring place. Portland, Oregon truly is magical. The sense of community, the support of the arts, and access to some of the most beautiful country in the nation. Every last bit of it fuels my creativity and is reflected in my work.

I take great care to live a very passionate and balanced life full of adventure and hard work, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thank you so much for reading my story. I hope my work brings a smile to your face.

"If there's a place, Canoe there" -Brent Kelly