About Kristi

I first learned to oil paint as a child in the basement of my Ukrainian grandmother’s home in Saskatchewan. She was a skilled artist, and being close to her shaped how I see and interpret the world. From an early age, I developed a painterly intuition, and most importantly, a lasting love for traditional painting.

I grew up in Vancouver, BC, and as a young adult, I studied design while also exploring a variety of creative paths. This took me to London, Los Angeles, and New York, and Montreal, each place shaping my perspective in different ways. When my daughter was born in 2023, I took a step back from my previous work and returned to painting, drawing on my design background to inform my artistic practice.

Becoming a “self-taught” painter has been a dedicated pursuit in the understanding of representational and observational painting. I draw from traditional methods, studying painters like Charles Reid, Sir William Russel Flint, and Emily Carr, while also incorporating contemporary techniques and subject matter.

In my work I paint from every day life — my figurative pieces often reflect the honest and ordinary moments happening around me. My work is rooted in representational painting, drawing from lived experience and observation — but with an openness to the poetic and the symbolic. I believe painting can serve as a portal into our interior selves, echoing the historical role of art as a tool for reflection. I explore themes such as beauty, simplicity, motherhood, and home life.