ABOUT
Florida native, Kristopher Meadows began his career early in life taking up drawing at the age of three. As a child he developed a strong affinity for the art world as a result of his fascination with comic book illustrations. Kris turned his attention to portraiture around the age of thirteen and quickly developed the skill to "see" and realize a drawing that captured the "spirit and soul" of his subject. Kris continued on his own teaching himself techniques from art books and methods of painting employed by artists he admired.
In 1990, Kris was the first student to be given the honor of a one-man show while attending Central Florida Community College. Less than a year later he enrolled in the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) on a partial scholarship and quickly caught the attention and admiration of his peers and instructors. He graduated with honors from SCAD in May 1994 with a BFA in Illustration and a minor in Art History. Comic Book Illustration (aka Sequential Art) was always Kris' first love and his classes in Illustration while attending SCAD further sharpened his skills in drawing and composition.
Influenced by great portrait artists such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn and Joaquin Sorolla, Kris employs a painting technique known as alla prima, Italian for “at the first”. The idea is to capture the essence of the subject in a bold, intuitive way, using vigorous, expressive brushstrokes and minimal color mixing on the palette or support. This technique renders the subject in a fresh, spontaneous and energetic way and keeps the portrait from being overworked and appearing "stiff" or lifeless. In his work, Kris strives to do what the masters of portraiture have done before him - create the illusion of life on a two-dimensional surface and an emotional connection between the image and viewer.
Kris has painted portraits of several distinguished individuals including Michele Wiles, principal ballet dancer for The American Ballet Theatre; actor Christopher Reeve; First Lieutenant Roger Mullin for the U.S. Army; and syndicated columnist Richard Yarbrough, managing director of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Meadows has studied under painters Albert Handel and Casey Baugh as well as world renowned sculptor Richard MacDonald. Meadows is a member of the Portrait Society of Atlanta, the Portrait Society of America and Oil Painters of America. His work has been featured in national publications such as American Art Collector Magazine and group exhibitions for which he has won numerous awards and accolades.
Cobb Life Magazine voted Kris as the Best Local Artist for Cobb County, GA in 2011. In March 2012, Kris released his first instructional portrait painting video – The SVEC Method™: Painting the Female Portrait in Oil – in an effort to simplify as well as demystify the process of portrait painting for artists of all skill levels. Currently Kris spends much of his time between painting portraits and figurative images and teaching oil painting classes privately out of his Acworth, GA studio.