Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Krista Townsend. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Krista, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I studied painting in college, but never felt like I got the basics of drawing, composition, and how to handle the materials. College classes all felt like they just focused on critique, which is important of course, but I really wanted to know how the old masters did it, from drawing and painting technique to understanding the materials. After college, I spent two years at an atelier and got what I wanted. I drew and sculpted from the model, ground my own oil pigments, learned rules of composition, and painted from life. I also perfected my portfolio for application to grad school.

I went to Johns Hopkins for medical and biological illustration. This was an amazing experience and taught me so much about visual communication that I have applied to both my painting and other creative work that I do. Occasionally, I do wish that I had stuck only with painting, but I then wonder if I’d really have been able to be as creative with practicing my craft if I was also dependent on it for income. Medical and biological illustration lead me down the path of working primarily on a computer which has proven to be a good contrast to time with brush and canvas. I got a “real job” after grad school, but it didn’t take me long to start painting again.

I started taking classes and did an apprenticeship with a portrait and landscape painter and learned so much from him. Teaching classes with him really helped me perfect my craft. When you have to put words to what you are doing and advise others, you learn so much about your own technique.

I spent about 10 years taking a class at a time and learning from others, sticking mostly with oil paint. Then when I went out on my own and started getting gallery shows, I really started finding my own way with my craft.

I started mixing medium at first by doing sketches in acrylic on my canvases before I would dive in with oil because I could quickly block in large shapes and the drawing would dry quickly. Then a few years ago, I was offered a big deal solo show with a short turn around. I only had a few months to prepare, so I bought a bunch of acrylic paints that would dry fast. I just dove in and have not looked back. I love them and I don’t think I would have explored acrylics fully if I had not committed to this short deadline! I was forced to be loose and experimental because of the short timeline, and it really inspired me. I couldn’t second guess myself. I’ve since started adding oils back into the mix by painting and drawing with oil on top of the acrylic work.

What has really helped me hone my craft has been finding structure like classes and deadlines to move me forward and encourage me to try new things. It may sound counterintuitive, but that structure really helps me engage and inspires my creativity. I also think that keeping the office job has allowed me time and space to create without the pressure of it having to be my primary income.

Having spent so much time creating in a classroom setting, when I did leave that security, it felt a little intimidating to just trust myself. It took a while, but I’ve found that my instinct to really solidly learn the basics from others at the start has given me a solid foundation to build upon. I can trust that and then let loose and play and find my own voice. I also don’t paint in a vacuum. I have developed relationships with other artists and we give each other feedback, go see shows and museums together, and sometimes just paint in each other’s studios.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a painter, living and working in Charlottesville, Virginia.

My paintings are about my gratitude for nature. My dog and I walk the woods of central Virginia on an almost daily basis. I am soothed by the beauty and allure of the trees and plants, but I can’t help but ponder our relationship with the natural world as I hear the highway in the distance beyond the call the pileated wood peckers.

I believe that it’s our responsibility to tend to nature. Not only does nature’s beauty bring personal joy and mental health, nature’s generosity literally feeds and supports physical health. To continue this symbiotic relationship, we have a responsibility to nurture her as much as she does us.

On my walks, I document my experience with photography, then back in my studio, I put together compositions that explore these concepts. I find the most exciting part in a painting to be the dark recesses between the beautiful flowers or blades of grass. It’s not only where the painting begins by looking at the negative space between objects, but it’s the wonderment of what is in there. I think about the ground and earth, the organic and inorganic that supports the lives of the plants, insects, birds, other mammals, and us.

My compositions focus closely on the plants and ground, zooming in on nature so that she dominates the canvas. I aim to demonstrate the power and beauty of nature.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that I was painting for anyone else but me. I think it started in college when I felt I had to justify why I was painting what I was painting. It was not enough to just want to explore the light and color of a simple still life or landscape to improve my skills. I needed to have meaning and purpose behind my choice of subject and composition. When I was learning my craft, I wish I had been encouraged to just focus on the process. As I’ve matured, and my craft is more a natural extension of who I am, now I can explore deeper concepts. I think that a painting will never be as good as it can be if I am trying to please someone else. I think this is pretty accurate for any type of creation.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

So, I think that all humans are creatives. We just have different processes and different outlets. I think that creativity comes in so many forms: painting like I do, cooking, parenting, computer programming, sales, medicine, politics, or construction. Its all creative. Not everything has an end product that you can hold in your hands or show on a screen, but I think that just the nature of being human makes us creative. Just navigating our world requires creativity!

For me, the thing I cherish most about the creative process is getting so lost in it. I’ll go to my studio at 9 am. It may take me a hour or so to rev up and get started, but once I start painting, its suddenly 5pm. I’m exhausted but also so fulfilled by the end of the day. Throughout the day, I am often utterly amazed when I step back from a canvas and look at it from a distance and what I’d been working on close up comes together and makes a sort of sense that I am not even sure I knew I was creating. It’s surreal, meditative, almost out-of-body, and at the same time grounding.

Contact Info:

• Website: kristatownsend.com
• Instagram: @ktownsendart
• Facebook: @ktownsendart
• Youtube: @ktownsendart

Image Credits
all the images were taken by me, Krista Townsend