Flying Home ~ 30th anniversary solo exhibition ~ May 12 2022

Hello my lovely Studio Insider friends,

I am very pleased to announce that my solo exhibition, titled Flying Home, opens today! This exhibition celebrates 30 years of being a full time, professional artist. I have come full circle back to the subject that I've always loved and first painted as a child - birds. But I'm exploring them with new eyes and a contemporary aesthetic. 

They are presented as bold pieces of modern art with the birds front and center. Many are painted on a huge scale, much larger than life size so that you can get lost in their gorgeous colors and feather details. The backgrounds are abstracted and simple, perfectly suited to contemporary interior design trends. 

This exhibition is at Trailside Galleries online. The image above shows you the scale and relative sizes of the paintings in an exhibition setting. I wish everyone could experience these paintings in person, as they make a breathtaking exhibition. But here we are in a virtual world, where only the lucky purchasers get to share their paintings with family and friends. I hope you are one of the few who will be able to acquire a painting from this major exhibition!

Please click here to view the full exhibition catalog with introduction and biography. A few of my favorite paintings feature below...

The ability of birds to fly has always captivated me, and I often dream that I can fly too. In some dreams I have invisible wings, and in others I can magically float on the wind. I still clearly remember the first dream of flying that I had as a child, whooshing up into the night sky above my home. Is it the over-active imagination of an artist, or something else? I don’t know the answer, but it’s always a thrilling experience.

These little egrets flying overhead were an irresistible subject to paint. Sunlight glowing through translucent feathers gives them an angelic look. Their white bodies in shadow reflect a rainbow of soft colors, contrasting with long black legs and bright yellow feet. I hope this painting brings a sense of peace and wonder to all who see it. 

Flying Home (Little Egrets) Oil on linen panel 48”x64” $22,000

Macaws are always bold characters, with their huge bills, expressive eyes and brightly colored plumage. As the title suggests, I like to think they can be high-minded, noble and generous, but I’m sure they are often mischievous as well. These two are hatching some sort of plan together, but they aren’t going to tell us what they’re up to. Painting them on a huge scale allows you to appreciate their gorgeous colors and feel that you are part of their fun. 

Magnanimous (Blue and Gold Macaws) Oil on linen panel 36”x64” $18,000

Flamingos are such elegant birds, with the beautifully sinuous curving necks and pink feathers making them one of my favorites to paint. These two face in opposite directions but are of one mind. Where one goes, the other and their entire flock goes. They all rouse from sleep, seek food, then preen and socialize at the same times. Seeing a huge flock of thousands take off and fly together or display together is an amazing sight. I wonder how they all decide to partake of the same activity at once. Is it a meeting of minds in some silent communication system? We may never know, but we can enjoy their colorful presence in our world.

A Meeting Of Minds (Greater Flamingos) Oil on linen panel 36”x36” $15,000

The Zulu call these tall, stately cranes uNohemu. Their distinctive golden crown of long, thin feathers gives them an air of royalty. Unable to withstand cold temperatures, they don’t migrate from their warm homelands in southern Africa, and have been there for more than 50 million years. I’ve arranged these three so they each have their own space to show off their crowns, while their black, red and grey markings create a bold graphic pattern. 

uNohemu (Grey Crowned Cranes) Zulu Oil on linen panel 48”x48” $18,000

On summer nights with the windows open, we hear Great Horned Owls hooting to each other in the forest. Their calls are comforting, letting us know that the natural world is still busy going about life while we sleep. 

On rare occasions I’ve discovered an owl during the daytime, sitting motionless on a branch and hoping I won’t see him. This is how I was able to paint this owl, darkening his surroundings to add a sense of twilight. Silver stars in the night sky will catch the light and shine or dim as you move around this painting. 

Starlight (Great Horned Owl)
Oil on linen panel 48”x28” $14,000

It has taken me a lifetime to create these paintings for my 30th anniversary exhibition, Flying Home. Most are newly painted in the past year or so, drawing on thirty years of professional experience and another twenty-something of dabbling and dreaming. A few of the paintings are older pieces that were exhibited in museums, and that Michael and I kept in our personal collection until now. All of them hold memories of glorious days in the open air, watching birds and imagining being able to fly.

I hope you will take the time to view my exhibition at Trailside Galleries. You can also view the paintings on my website. Please click here to see the virtual catalog. 

Most of all, I hope you will enjoy Flying Home with me!

Krystii.

P.S. Please share this with family and friends who might enjoy my bird paintings too!