Artist Statement:

I have traveled extensively throughout North and South America, but it is the beautiful landscape of the Canadian Sheild and remote areas of Ontario that ignites my passion for painting vistas of lakes, trees, and rocks.  My appreciation for art started early in life and has developed into a passion of self-study, through courses and mentorships with well known Canadian and American artists.  Painting exclusively in oil, my idealistic representational landscapes evoke a calm reflectiveness in the viewer as if being present in the painting.  I believe my art allows the viewer to escape their hectic lifestyle and bring the great Canadian outdoors inside their home.

Artist Bio:

Kristina paints inspiring vistas she experiences travelling and is particularly drawn to islands and peninsulas that indicate some secret spot beyond.  The spirituality of a morning sunrise with the reflection of trees and rocks on the water catches her eye as does a peaceful, almost mysterious misty view that makes Kristina want to take a closer look.  

It’s important for Kristina to see the details of her subject, as if to understand the soul of it before she decides on the composition.  The temperature outside, the smell of the air, the feel of the wind are elements Kristina engrains in her memory.  She revisits her reference photos many times before starting a piece all the while sketching, cropping, and doing value studies.  She remembers how it felt to be in that spot at that point in time.  

Using traditional oils, Kristina applies several layers of washes and transparent colour to ensure she captures the light and dark areas on the canvas.  By using gestural marks and building layers of medium mixed paint, Kristina can build depth into her paintings at a fairly rapid rate.  Her brush strokes become finer as the finish approaches.  Some areas of lesser focus have less detail and reflect a more impressionist style.  Kristina works in a variety of formats but prefers gallery canvas for her finished pieces.  A large portion of her work includes a square format which she believes helps frame scenes and narrow the focal point. 

Kristina has evolved as an artist, starting out with a much more impressionist approach and developing a more realistic style.  However, she will never think she has arrived at the end state.  Rather, her painting is a practice, an artistic evolution, and an unending journey.  It’s Kristina’s hope that her memories will live on in the pieces she’s created.  Her objective for the viewer is to capture the emotional response she had when she first experienced that view.  Perhaps in 100 years someone will say, “I want to go there!”