Krista van Nostrand

In a world which is "too much with us" Krista van Nostrand's delicate, meticulous watercolours entice you to pause, magnifying glass in hand and to step into the world in miniature. Each painting is an invitation to slow down, to look closely, to appreciate and to savour the beauty of the natural world. In her miniature watercolors she draws inspiration from the history of miniature watercolour painting on ivory, medieval illuminated manuscripts, Japanese lacquer work, antique enamel jewelry, the English watercolour masters and, Art Nouveau decorative arts. Her miniature gems, painted on translucent ivory, have a luminous quality which can not be achieved on paper. Using keys conserved from antique pianos her work explores new possibilities for this classical genre creating mixed media works with gold and silver leaf. Her unique paintings often have musical titles and explore the connections among the natural world, music, and antique objects and the stories that they tell.

She divides her time between working in her studio in St. John's and in her lakeside 'tiny house' studio in the pristine wilderness of Canoe Lake where she and her family spent seven summers hand crafting a timber frame cottage. She returns to the wilderness again and again to explore, discover and examine the living things there.

Primarily self taught, she has had formal and informal guidance from artists such as Barbara Pratt, Frank Lapointe, Julia Pickard and Carl Stevenson.

Her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions since 2002. Her work is included in the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Art Bank and has been awarded a Provincial Arts and Letters Award.

Works on Ivory

Works on Vellum

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Works on Paper and Canvas