KELLY-ANNE CAIRNS was born in Lancaster 1975 and studied painting at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen. After graduating in 1999 with a BA (Hons) she was awarded the John Kinross Travel Scholarship to Florence. She was accepted for the BP Portrait Award exhibition in 1999 and has continued to paint with much success ever since. She exhibits regularly in London, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow selling her work worldwide. The author J.K.Rowling is among her many private collectors.  Kelly-Anne currently works part-time as an arts tutor and shares a studio with her artist husband, Stephen Shankland, in a small coastal village in North East Scotland. Her main sources of inspiration are aged frescos of Italian Renaissance painters, Geisha and Oriental style, and the design and texture of fabrics. Described as "accomplished and powerful" and "a modern Klimt" The Herald, Kelly-Anne describes her work as portraying the human form and emotions. "I manipulate the figure and its surroundings by exploring the contrasts between the angular shapes surrounding the figure and the soft contours of the body."




EDUCATION

Graduated 1999 Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen
BA (Hons) Drawing and painting

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1999
RSA, Edinburgh
Compass Gallery, Glasgow
Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
Aberdeen Artists, Aberdeen Art Gallery
BP Portraits Award, National Portrait Gallery,
London

2000
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
Visual art Scotland, RSA, Edinburgh
The Affordable Art Fair, London
Tolquhon Gallery, Aberdeenshire
The Green Gallery, Aberfoyle

2001
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
139 Gallery, Nottinghill, London
Tolquhon Gallery, Aberdeenshire
Thompsons Gallery, Stow-0n-The-Wold

2002
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
Glasgow Art Fair
Thompsons Gallery, Stow-On-The-Wold
The Green Gallery, Aberfoyle
West Country Art Fair, Bristol
The Richmondhill Gallery, Richmondhill, Surrey
Tolquhon Gallery, Aberdeenshire
Grays Former Students Exhibition, Aberdeen Royal
Infirmary Trust

2003
Tolquhon Gallery, Aberdeenshire
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
New York Art Fair
Affordable Art Fair, London

2004
Tolquhon Gallery, Aberdeenshire
Aberdeen Artists Exhibition, Aberdeen Art Gallery
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
Friends of Aberdeen Art Gallery Exhibition, Aberdeen
Art Gallery

2005
Affordable Art Fair, London
Ballie Gallery, London
Bridge View Gallery, Aberdeen
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh

2006
Leith Gallery, Edinburgh