In her life-size paintings of wildlife, Tennessee’s Krista Eubanks adds found organic objects, such as acorns and grasses. She also scatters meaningful writings throughout — sometimes in an animal’s fur or in the shadows.
The artist: Eubanks was born and grew up in Rossville, GA. She earned a degree in graphic arts from Chattanooga State and worked in advertising until the early 2000s. Around 2008, Eubanks shifted her focus to fine art, working with watercolor, pen and inks.
The company/studio: Eubanks’ home studio is located in historic Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, where she has lived since 1980.
Art + materials: Watercolor paintings of wildlife on paper, featuring Indian and Walnut inks, and often, found specimens, native seeds and vines.
What’s popular: Life-size watercolor paintings in sepia tones of “anything wildlife” ($4,000 to $25,000).
Inspirations:
- Albrecht Dürer’s drawings
- Taxidermy, specifically, Deyrolle’s cabinet of curiosities. Part museum, part boutique in Paris, it showcases the beauty of the nature in all its forms.
- Stories from her father, Roy Barton Eubanks, of his hunting days. “His memory inspires me daily.”
Special commissions: Portraits of animals to represent memorable family events, such as a birth. Clients give her wording, rarely legible, for a painting. Sometimes it is one word, used over and over. In a ground hog painting, she wrote: God Bless throughout.
Big breaks:
- Asked to be represented by Chattanooga-based Gallery 1401 and its original owner Sue Markley.
- Invited to participate in the Hunter Museum of American Art’s Spectrum fundraiser many years ago.
Awards/Honors:
- Fine Arts Connoisseur magazine named her one of “Three to Watch,” 2016.
- Gallery1401 Best of Local Show, 2016.
What’s new: Incorporating more nature into her work, such as found bees or a tiny wasp nest on a single pine needle, that she discovers on her morning walks.
Where to buy:
Get social at:
– Instagram: @kristamarieeubanks
– Facebook Krista Eubanks
