KELLY'S STORY
Kelly O'Neill-Dusome was born and raised in southwest Michigan, USA where she saw and was taught the beauty of nature and the things around her. She has always noticed and admired the small details and nuances of her environment, noting the way the colors blended in a sunset or the way the shadows sat on a person's face. Kelly loved to incorporate art into every aspect of her life-whether it was doodling during class, making elaborate books and cards for her family and friends, or creating artsy desserts for her family's birthdays.
Her adult life originally had taken a less artistic academic route.
She received her Bachelor's of Science in Psychology and
Anthropology from Grand Valley State University in 2011. However,
her artistic inclination pushed her to pursue a career in cake
decorating, and she received a formal baking and decorating
education at Secchia Institute for Culinary Education where she
obtained her Certificate of Baking and Pastry Arts in 2014.
Kelly had found joy creating beautiful custom cakes and desserts
for thousands of customers, while also painting on the side for friends
and family. Unfortunately the unforgiving nature of baking and
decorating left Kelly with a chronic wrist and forearm disability
on both arms in 2017. She was no longer able to bake or decorate as a career due to the pain. Through years of surgeries, medications and therapies, she finally was able to start up painting as a form of wrist therapy since it was less stress on her arms. Unlike cake decorating, Kelly was able to paint for hours as long as she wore her wrist braces and took her medicine! She quickly realized that painting also provided her with mental therapy, as it always relaxed her to paint. The mental impact painting had on Kelly's life was indescribable. Through all the twists and turns of growing up, career choices and health problems, painting kept on returning to her like an anchor. That, combined with an incredibly supportive support system, Kelly finally knew that painting was what she was meant to do.
Kelly's specialty is painting water. She is especially drawn to unique wave formations and dramatic skies. She paints many other subjects, but she seems to always get pulled back to waterscapes. Her style leans on the photo-realistic side and she always aims to make each painting as real and eye-catching as possible. Kelly hopes her passion and devotion reflects in every piece she paints, and also hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams, no matter how many obstacles come in the way.