Passing Cloud

Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 255 × 330 mm, Framed

2026

Passing Cloud captures a fleeting shift in weather, when a view of cloud moves through and the landscape beneath is briefly altered by light. Soft blue-greens, misted greys and a quiet glow of peach dissolve the boundary between sea, land and sky. 

Rather than locating us in a fixed place, the painting holds the sensation of watching weather move across an open horizon. Light gather, fades and changes reminding us that even the heaviest atmosphere is temporary. There is a gentle optimism in that passing moment, and in the promise that the landscape will soon reveal itself again. 

About Kelly:

Kelly Rowe is an artist and designer based on Auckland’s North Shore, where the

changing light and weather of the coast are a constant presence in her work.

Trained as an architect, Kelly continues to work in commercial interior design as

part of Maken, an Auckland design studio. This background naturally finds its way

into her paintings through an interest in space, proportion, light and the idea of

shelter.

Her imagined oil landscapes range from purely atmospheric works to paintings in

which a small architectural form appears within the landscape. She is drawn to

the way a passing cloud, a distant horizon or a subtle shift in light can completely

change how a place is seen and felt.

When architecture does appear, it is often only the smallest gesture, perhaps a

roofline or an illuminated plane. It is less about depicting a particular building and

more about introducing a sense of human presence, refuge or somewhere we

might recognise before we are able to name it.

Kelly’s paintings develop slowly through layers of translucent colour. Forms are

softened, obscured and sometimes painted over, allowing traces of earlier

decisions to remain. Her work explores the tension between what is visible and

what is withheld, while leaving room for the viewer’s own memories and emotional

connections.

Through these quiet, imagined landscapes, Kelly hopes to offer a moment of

stillness and the feeling of looking towards something distant, familiar and quietly

reassuring.

Kelly won the Winsor & Newton Auckland Art Award in 2024 and received a Merit

Award at the National Contemporary Art Award in 2025. Her work has also been

recognised as a finalist in the Estuary Art and Ecology Award, the Craigs Aspiring

Art Prize and the Soho Art Prize, Sydney.