SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
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The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Kristi
Richter
UNITED STATES
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"I believe, a bona fide artist is capable of rendering any initiative."
Kristi was born and grew up in Chicago and now resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Art has always been a priority, and she owes her zealous interest due to her grandfather, who was a professional commercial artist and had a studio in Chicago. He did work for magazines, books, newspapers, and had his work displayed in The First National Bank of Chicago for many years. Her mother was also an artist and painted for pleasure, so she inherited talent from both sides of the family.
The gray, smoky tints surrounding my subject depict the kind of animal who dwells in misty mountain regions, offsetting the overall feeling of cold, snow, and majestic breathtaking landscapes it lives in.
She had always been interested in art as far back as grade school and art teachers paid special attention to her, encouraging her to develop her natural abilities. Due to her father being a doctor, her father would bring home tons of paper which separated x-ray film, and Kristi would use this paper for her projects.
This scratchboard was a photograph in a calendar that caught my attention because of the shadows that fell on the dog's face, and the hair with the numerous patterns of thickness and length.
As a youngster, she never purchased store bought cards but always created cards for her parent's birthdays and other special holiday occasions, and she was always designing comic books with various animal characters.
"I was able to recognize my weaknesses over time and sought ways to improve them, and solidified my strengths."
She enjoyed putting together life-sized dogs which would take a fairly large amount of paper. Using crayons as the medium, each piece of paper would be colored with the various hues of a dog's coat, and then she would carefully shape each sheet and paste or tape the sheets together, with the end resulting in life-sized dogs.
"I combine several similar icons for a particular theme and merge them into a final scenario, sometimes creating collages, and my work in all categories mentioned have placed in past contests."
Kristi followed an art curriculum through high school, but it was when she attended The American Academy of Art and Chicago Academy of Fine Arts respectively, that she really started to understand her potential and how to express it. Her studies introduced her to the many facets of art such as advertising, illustration, calligraphy, photography, abstract, design, pen and ink, color schemes, and charcoal drawing with live models.
The complimenting colors of tigers intrigue me because they are so bright and intense, and they are a favorite combination I like to experiment with. The tiger's expression suggests boredom or possibly it might be feeling particularly smug.
"I discovered scratchboard is a challenging medium because of the complexity animal fur textures present, and realized that there is very little room for mistakes."
Elephants are a fascinating subject because of the skin which involves density and networking, plus shadows which produce the final effect of being extremely wrinkled and creased. This picture clearly shows the control this magnificent beast has over the two cats who seem totally subservient to the elephant's power, making the elephant definitely intimidating.
A new medium, which she had never heard of, was introduced to her in art school. It was called scratchboard and she had fun learning about it. Her first work took a month to complete, and the subject was an animal with a complex conglomeration of shadows within the fur, which tested her ingenuity in establishing depth.
Here is another example of my passion for the beauty of the horse. The medium is graphite pencil, and the pencil opacity produces layers of different shades. The stature of the horse depicts the title of the piece: it is in a state of exhilaration, neck arched, mane flying in all directions, possibly in the process of jumping up and kicking its heels, feeling alive and happy.
The scratchboard used was not pre-inked so she had to cover the surface in India Ink. When her subject was ready, she went to work scratching areas lightly, inking over, and scratching the same areas again, sometimes harder, until she got the shadow depths perfect. To complete the work, she put a brown wash over the subject with the end result making it look like a photograph. The end result of her artwork is gratifying, and it is her scratchboards that have won first place in several art competitions.
Dogs are loyal companions, and this dog is certainly attentive, centered in on its master, waiting for that important command, or perhaps waiting patiently for a treat or perhaps being reprimanded and accepting the scolding without complaint.
She occasionally undertakes endeavors that do not include animals, which are her passion and forte with her goal capturing her subject's expression, colors, hair, and fur consistencies which can sometimes present a very complex challenge. She also enjoys generating other subjects such as still life, botanical, seascapes, landscapes, cartooning, and abstract.
This wide-eyed kitten scratchboard is an attention getter because the expression looks like it is up to mischief. Scratchboard is usually rendered in black and white, and the two colors are distinct and solid for the most part with mild degrees of shading.
"Most of my work is done in acrylics and has included pet portraits, posters and advertisements that are animal-related."
Having owned horses thirty plus years, drawing horses comes easy for me; I know every facet of their body shape, particular when they are tacked up in equipment such as bridles and saddles because of many components that make up tack. The work on this picture was done with a magnified apparatus so the details of the buckles, clips, and various parts of the bridle would be precise. I also liked the particular color of this horse and the way the shadows fell on the neck and reins.
She has also written and illustrated a children's book about a dog which she would like to publish. Another popular medium Kristi excels in is graphic pencil. She finds the pencils with their diverse degrees of graduated line from soft to hard impressions easy to use and has fun doing it.
This classic stance of a Quarter horse was fun to paint because the shadows were so distinct, and when I applied a sharp blue background, the colors jumped out in intensity, adding to the intricate detail of the whiskers on the nose and chin.
Kristi's definitive objective is to start a business exclusively doing pet portraits or a favorite wildlife creature rendered in acrylics, scratchboard, watercolor, abstract, and cartoon, and has designed a business card and advertising poster with the logo "Kristi's Kritters." She has been relatively successful in attaining clients who commissioned her to have their pets painted. Kristi's other distinctive accomplishment centers around the Martial Arts, and she currently holds a First-Degree Brown Belt in the art of Kenpo Karate, a sophisticated Chinese System.
I can't help grin when I look at this mule, wondering what it is thinking. Having a laugh on me, showing displeasure about something it doesn't like, or maybe just posing for someone taking a picture? What do you think?