Hi! I’m Krystal, mother of four and painter of JOY!
Art has held a special place in my heart since childhood. It was rare to find me without crayons and a doll as a little kid, or a sketchbook and pencils as a teen. As I was growing up, art was a safe place and gave me courage when things were difficult for my family. Art became my joy, a hiding place where I could feel special, and lit a path for me to change my future. I was the first in my family to attend a four-year university (James Madison University BFA 2005 and MEd 2007). After graduate school, I took up painting as a pastime, which eventually led me to sell my artwork at small fairs and festivals.
I sign my work “JOY!” because, despite any challenges or emotions I may be experiencing, my paintings consistently exude a sense of joy and positivity.
This butterfly, painted in honor of my late grandmother, was the very first painting signed, "JOY!" Although it was created it through a vale of tears and sorrow in the midst of grief, the artwork itself emerged bursting with a sense of joy and light. This experience confirmed that I painted with a spirit of joy, so that night I signed my art in honor of this truth.
I was led to my current mark-making style in 2020 on a creative journey to explore how to paint florals with the same energy I felt when I saw them. To me, flowers feel like a bright smile from the earth. That journey led me through a month of painting simple abstracts. And, after hearing a quote, “I let the brush be the brush, the paint be the paint, and the canvas be the canvas,” I kept my brushstrokes minimal which is where the overlapping layers of simple bold brush marks came from in my artwork.
