Chris Everest
Growing up in Oregon City, I didn’t start out to be an artist although I always enjoyed drawing as a child. Instead I trained to be a nurse and worked as a Critical Care RN for 35 years while I raised my family. Art began calling to me about 1999 when my nursing supervisor offered to paint with me. We were the blind leading the blind, but she had taken a few classes and subscribed to an artist magazine so I thought she knew it all. I read the articles, watched the noon art shows on TV on my days off and painted weekly with my supervisor for years. Starting out using acrylic craft paint, I wasn’t having much success but I was having fun and couldn’t get enough painting time in. Each painting seemed to change like magic as I tried to add shadows or highlights and I was fascinated by the potential on the blank canvas. Slowly the paintings seemed to improve.I eventually took classes from my mentor, Billy Beaulieu, and her great class of cohorts. Billy persuades everyone to switch to oils, so I began painting in oil….and I loved their ability to blend and the fact that the colors didn’t change and darken like my acrylic paintings had. It seemed a very forgiveable medium compared to the fast drying acrylics. I especially liked painting people and with a big extended family and my camera in hand there was always some picture I wanted to paint next. Painting from a photo reference allows me to take my time since I am still fairly slow and I can enjoy the process. By always planning the next picture, it allows me to have a stopping point on painting the current one…..otherwise I just keep painting details that are better left to the viewers imagination.Over the years I have been fortunate enough to sell a fair amount of paintings, gotten commissions from family, from the hospital I worked at and from total strangers. I had paintings hanging in three restaurants at once last fall, and have won a few ribbons at the NCAG Annual Fall Shows, including my favorite which was the Peoples Choice Award in 2011. My niece allows me to hang work continually at her Serendipity Restaurant in Warrenton, Or Thank goodness for her wall space because my closets and the art room are full and I am still planning that next painting. I wish I had started art when I was young and could have been trained in art history and techniques more in depth, but I loved having been a nurse and wouldn’t give up my past life. Luckily the Art Guild fulfills that training wish for me with their critiques, demos, and interaction with other artists. ***Chris lives and paints in Milwaukie, Or. and is available for commission work. Contact her via phone at 503-652-1243 or email Misscrunch@gmail.com Additional works are viewable on facebook at ‘Christine Everest Oil Painting’
