The artist
I’m an artist in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, and I paint action sports in acrylic on canvas.
I’ve been painting since I was a teenager. In 2026 I was asked to translate an old photograph of a cyclist racing into a painting. My interest was piqued and I haven’t looked back.
“Days of Splendor”, one of my skating paintings
I ride a road bicycle, and I started roller skating again in my fifties. I also learned to surf prone in the last couple of years. I had forgotten how much fun it was to push the physical boundaries.
The more I painted, the more I remembered my teen years, when skateboarding was still a fringe sport, in-line skates were a new thing and BMX tricks were all the rage among my friends. Kids were building half pipes in their yards and skate parks pretty much didn’t exist. After I moved somewhere that skating on the road wasn’t really an option, I roller skated in rinks as often as I could.
We lived to be outside as often as we could. I want to help people reconnect to that love and those memories, and to inspire people to get out there and do more. Live life out loud!
I guess I can admit I didn’t get to my fifties without going through some life moments, and those have guided me to the passions I currently have. I moved a lot growing up, and I relocated a number of times as an adult. In changing jobs and homes, I’ve lost many friendships and learned to be ok with my own thoughts, but I still love, love, love people.
I want so badly to help people to see and experience the wonder of the world around them, and I get very excited about what I see God doing and the blessings I see. I’m passionate about helping people to find a way to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. I’m not a therapist or counselor, and I left teaching (public schools), but I am not a stranger and will chat with nearly anyone.
My family is very important to me even though some of them are thousands of miles away. I’m grateful for every moment I get with them, even when it is a text or phone call.
Because of all this, I get excited about these paintings – these “action portraits” – because I see the potential. I personally lost so much to digital rot – so many memories now gone forever. I can imagine how wonderful it would be to have a physical reminder that encapsulates the part of a loved one that isn’t portrayed in typical family portraits. I feel like I’m here to be in service to others. And to me, that’s the most exciting part of all.
Kristi with “Send It” at Cardinal Bicycle
Right now I have work at Cardinal Bicycle in Grandin Village in Roanoke, Virginia.
I wrote the Living Journal because I could not find the journal I was looking for. I needed something undated, because I tend to put a journal down and come back later, sometimes much later. I wanted one that was focused on faith, as that is important to me.
I love beautiful things, and this one is full of photographs I’ve taken of some incredible locations. It has thick pages, so you can write in just about any type of ink without bleed-through. I’m getting ready to write another.
Send me your favorite shot of the ride, the race, or the landing. I paint it by hand in acrylic on canvas. Custom paintings start at $210.
