Kristen Ann Walker - Artist of the Week

The first thing I noticed about Kristen's work are the fabulous colors. The second thing I noticed are the positive messages she incorporates into her work.

Peace

Just Begin - An Affirmation for Artists

Follow Your Bliss

Kristen lives in Santa Barbara California where she works full time at a county education office as a web developer.  She is lucky because she loves her 9 -5 job and has a creative outlet in her artwork.  Kristen sells her artwork on her Etsy site, Kristen Annie follow your bliss.  

Kristen is a craft store junkie (I'm sure many of us can relate to that!) and loves to try new materials and techniques.  She is a big fan of acrylics for their easy clean-up, but also loves sharpies, paint pens and fabric paint.  Kristen's grandfather was a big influence on her and her artwork.  Here's what she said, "My grandfather was an extremely creative person, and has greatly influenced my creativity in materials. He gave me a wooden artist's box with oil paints in it when I was young. He included all kinds of unofficial art supplies in it, too, like a comb and some buttons. I asked him what those were for, and he said I could try creating textures with them. That planted the seed for seeking out unconventional materials and seeing everything as a possible creative tool. I am so grateful to him for sharing his creative perspective and joy with me."

As I said earlier, I love Kristen's use of color. I know I can be a bit intimidated about using different colors in my work, so I always admire other artists that seem to have the freedom and confidence to incorporate lots of great colors into their work.  Kristen said she loves to play with color and when selecting her color choices, she goes with what's calling her name when she looks at her paints and pens. 

Kristen has some beautiful words to share about creating artwork in general.

"I feel like the act of creating art is a form of tuning into the cosmic
creative radio station in the sky and transmitting energy and feelings to
others via images and color. For a long time I felt like, "who am I to
offer what I create to people?", but more and more I am realizing that I don't *own* my
artwork, if that makes any sense. I feel like when I create, I am receiving
a gift, and by offering the images to others, I am allowing the gift to
reach the people that it was supposed to reach, and not blocking it. Even
if the image only resonates with one other person, but that person totally
gets it and sees something that illustrates a thought or feeling or emotion from their own soul, it's worth it."

If you'd like to read more about Kristen and her work, visit her blog, Kristen Walker Art, Life and More. Thanks so much for joining me for the Artist of the Week post, see you Friday!  Stacie