Kristi Atwood

Kristi Atwood

In the summers of 1975 and '76 Kristi worked on a fire lookout on Buck Mountain in the Okanogan National Forest. With a panoramic view, she was immersed in the vastness and beauty of the mountains. Every sunrise and sunset, snow, fog, rain and sunny day offered a new experience she wanted to somehow capture and remember. This place and experience has influenced her life and is where her art career began.

Kristi started taking art classes after high school. She settled on painting in watercolors after studying drawing and painting at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, which she says, “was a wonderful place to learn the classical style of drawing and painting.” She received a certificate in The Art of Children’s Illustration at University of Washington. She has studied with Lee Baughman at Clark College in Vancouver, WA, and most recently spent a year under the mentorship of watercolor master Andy Evansen, through Tucson Art Academy Online.

“I love the fluid movement of watercolors and the beautiful elegance and freshness of colors merging together.” Kristi is drawn to sunsets, reflections in the water, trees and old barns. The places she loved as a child are still some of her favorite subjects to paint in her mostly realistic style.

Born in Omak and raised in Okanogan, WA, Kristi now lives with her husband Gary, in Vancouver, WA. She is a retired graphic designer who believes that art can offer calm and a sense of quiet healing in our world. “To share the beauty I see and the things that touch my soul through my art is the best gift I can give.”