About Colleen Gnos
Colleen Gnos
Painting the Ocean’s Magic
Colleen Gnos’ love of the ocean is clear in her art, which includes wave-washed bluffs, Renaissance-style mermaids painted on surfboards, tikis, hula dancers, vibrant Garibaldi and clown fish, idyllic surfer scenes, and deep-sea divers with classic helmets.
The award-winning painter lives in Shell Beach, CA, steps from cliffs overlooking the Pacific. Her industrial studio is in San Luis Obispo, CA. The sea, surfing, stories and music shape her days and her art. She plays upright bass in her husband Che Miller’s band The Mother Corn Shuckers, and stays engaged in her 2 sons’ busy lives.
Gnos’ mission is to make art that touches people and heals communities. She strives to give meaning to common-day items and events by painting them with reverence. This motivation has inspired her to pick up a paintbrush every week for over 30 years.
Family Connections to the Sea
Saltwater is in Gnos’ DNA. Her Portuguese ancestors were sea captains in the Azores. Her grandfather, Tony Sylvester, immigrated to Avila Beach, CA in the 1930s. He went diving for lost anchors, had an abalone diving business, trained U.S. Navy divers, and started a tugboat business to guide oil tankers into port.
Colleen learned environmental advocacy and the value of local history from him. Her narrative paintings, murals and custom surfboards reflect her lifelong fascination with the ocean.
Early Life as an Artist
Gnos knew she would be an artist at age 4, making drawings for her extended family and preschool. Her first trip to Hawaii was in the same year and she fell in love with the people and culture. She drew hula-dancing rabbits for months after this trip. As a farmer’s young daughter in Dixon, CA she was surrounded by animals and colorful sights. Her love for the ocean grew during childhood trips to visit family in Avila Beach. She recalls, “I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and get back to the coast.” And she did, enrolling at UC Santa Cruz.
Seeking a foundation in painting, Gnos spent her third academic year at L'Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy. Her current figurative style can be traced to hours sketching drawings by classic master painters and 500 year-old sculptures at the Uffizzi Gallery. “I was surrounded by great art everywhere I went,” said Gnos who returned to the West Coast to finish her degree.
At 21, her life and art took a new direction when she learned to surf. “It took over my life,” Gnos said as she spent mornings in the water, and afternoons capturing her impressions at the easel as tranquil waves, lively surfers and sea goddesses.
Painting Career
After graduation, Gnos and her husband moved to Hawaii. Colleen was a scenic artist for a Hawaii Theatre, Hawaii Opera Theatre and painted commissioned murals for Waikiki businesses and conventions. She also did custom airbrush commissions for professional surfer and shaper Larry Bertleman.
After 4 years, the creative couple returned to California. In San Diego Gnos painted backdrops and sets for La Jolla Playhouse. A year later she returned to CA’s Central Coast. Colleen continued to paint murals, fine art and raised 2 sons. She survived a rare bone lymphoma in 2013. Surfing and painting aided her recovery. Both endeavors became touchstones in her life.
Over the years, Gnos refined her artistic repertoire of hallmark surf and ocean images. She successfully added animated marine life, timeworn boats, rugged divers, seaside cliffs, tikis and her alluring mermaid-sirens. Gnos includes other subjects in her paintings: agricultural tributes, local jazz musicians, award-winning wine labels, and land preservation and memorial murals. But her natural tendency is to return to sea motifs.
The Ocean on Canvas
She shared, “I have a million ideas and they all revolve around the ocean. I’ve been painting waves so long that it just comes naturally. Surfing keeps me sane. When I surf, I think about painting. When I paint, I think about surfing. I hope my art helps viewers connect to the ocean, to be in awe of its power, beauty and wonder.”
The artist is passionate about capturing the ocean’s magic. She added, “It’s wonderful being in the ocean and seeing new ways to illustrate water. I love how liquid adds color, distortion and texture to images. Art is light. When you throw ocean water into the mix, it gets more complicated…and fun!”
Colleen’s regard for the sea and marine life continues today as she surfs and dives with her 2 teenaged sons, supports ocean-based efforts such as “Surfing for Hope, “ and researches commissioned sea-life murals and paintings.
Her famous 8-paneled mural on 2 Avila Beach lifeguard towers celebrates her family’s personal legacy. It also includes the beach town’s local history, with one panel dedicated to an original well-known Avila lifeguard, Hardie Phillip.
“Avila Beach Ocean Stewardship: Past and Present” is Central Coast Aquarium’s commissioned mural. It portrays the adjacent ocean’s biodiversity with 2 views: an historical panorama of nearby sea life, with Gnos’ interpretation of preservation concerns for today’s marine life. Gnos described a portion of her mural, “There’s something so beautiful and intense about CA’s kelp forests. They’re so full of life-I love painting them.”
In October 202, a new mural depicting underwater and out-of-water scenes was installed at a Pismo Beach, CA dentist office adding charm and beauty to the community. Guests at Gnos’ annual Open Studios Art Tour previewed her latest paintings of exotic fish, hula dancers, white volcanic cliffs, and ”Medusirena,” a fire-eating mermaid.
The artist’s most recent mural was a 14x14’ rich historical mural depicting the Dixon’s indigenous people and their use of fishing weirs and medicinal plants, the Californios who represented Spain and managed the land, the arrival of the settlers and the railroad, multicultural business owners, advancements in agriculture and tomato farming. Many underrepresented people of the town said they felt “seen and heard.” This meant so much to Colleen as it aligns with her mission in art.
Colleen is currently creating a body of work for a tiki-inspired solo show titled “Idolatry” at the Bunker, San Luis Obispo in February 2025. She is creating paintings that celebrate tiki, from Polynesian Pop, mermaids, monkeys and a journey into the savage.
Colleen Gnos adds intense color and lush ocean movement to signify a life-affirming impression. That’s the impact she hopes viewers have connecting with her artwork. She wants the scenes and stories that she paints to matter, to heal. Her art is a meaningful and magical mirror of the world she lives in. Explore more of Gnos’ art at https://www.gnosart.com
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HONORS
▪ Invited to artist residency in New York at Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts in February 2025 ▪ 2023-2024 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow - Established Artist
▪ Received San Luis Obispo New Times’ Reader Poll Awards for “Best Visual Artist” and “Best Public Art Project” for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019
▪ Exhibiting at Huntington Beach International Surf Museum’s 2024-2025 exhibit “Duke’s Dream Came True, Surfing’s Path to the Olympics”
▪ 2018 Cover artist Bass World: International Society of Bassists, Dallas, Texas. Volume 40
▪ Invited to exhibit at Huntington Beach Art Center’s monumental show, “Women of Surfing, Art and History.”
▪ Named 1 of 9 ”Women Making Waves 2017,” alongside 8 female scientists, activists, and educators. http:// surfwritergirls.blogspot.com/2017/05/women-making-waves-2_28.html
▪ Awarded Public Arts Commission byAvila Beach Community Foundation & ARTS Obispo: 2 murals 5 x 9’ at Central Coast Aquarium Avila Beach, CA.
▪ Awarded Public Arts Commission by Avila Beach Community Foundation & ARTS Obispo: Series of eight 7.5x7,’ murals on 2 two Lifeguard Towers. Avila Beach, CA.
▪ Included in Robb Havassy’s book, “The Surf Story Project”, a collection of 50 years of art and stories of 200+ of the surf culture’s artists, and iconic figures.
▪ Featured artist for KCBX’s “Live Oak Music Festival” and Downtown San Luis Obispo’s “Concert in the Plaza” posters ▪ Designed the “2002 Women's Triple Crown of Surfing” poster
▪ Received 11th Annual “Beacon Art Show’s” Juror Award