Tranquility by Calie Durant

Acrylic on canvas
30" h x 40" w - unframed

Calie Durant is an abstract painter whose work bridges a lifelong dedication to visual communication with a sustained commitment to a practice shaped through layered inquiry and revision. She studied graphic design in art school before earning her BFA with a major in painting. Raised in Hawai‘i, she was drawn early to the relationships between color, form, and atmosphere, sensitivities that would later inform both her design career and her studio practice.

Before turning fully toward painting, Calie worked in branding and advertising as an art director, designer, and strategist in New York and San Francisco. She led creative teams and crafted cohesive visual systems across web, mobile, and print. During this time, she partnered with renowned clients including Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Ogilvy & Mather, and Landor Associates. This background refined her approach to composition, structure, and visual clarity, elements that now underpin the disciplined yet expansive nature of her abstract work.

In 2021, Calie moved back to O‘ahu with her husband and two children. She now paints from her home studio in Honolulu, where a sense of rhythm, openness, and spatial awareness informs the ongoing evolution of her practice.

Tranquility captures a moment of stillness within the constant movement of water. Layers of blue and turquoise create an ethereal sense of depth, while soft washes, delicate patterns, and fluid marks move across the surface like currents beneath calm water.

Rooted in the quiet beauty of the ocean, the painting also reflects the moments in life when we find space to pause, breathe, and let ourselves be carried rather than striving against the current. The layered marks evoke the subtle movement that continues even within stillness, reminding us that tranquility is not the absence of movement, but a sense of ease within it. Tranquility invites us to slow down, settle into the present, and find calm within the ever-changing flow of life. - Calie Durant