Meet Kristen Adams

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristen Adams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kristen , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

My journey with art began when I was really little. I have a vivd memory of my babysitter drawing a portrait of a horse on a spare scrap of paper and I remember thinking to myself then, “I want to be able to draw like that.” I then spent my childhood carrying around a “How to Draw Horses” book, tracing horses until I could draw them from memory, investing so much time and energy into any and every creative school art project, and wanting to be an artist.

In high school I took an AP Art History class where I fell in love with Baroque Artists Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Their dramatic use of light and shadows in their paintings inspired me to pick up my first set of oil paints. From there I was hooked.

I began my college journey at an Art School studying painting. In my second year I had a lot of personal life challenges that made me rethink my future. The fear and doubt of being able to make it as an artist crept in and I spent the next many years getting my Bachelors and Masters in Psychology. I was still painting on the side and began showing and selling some of my work. With the money I made on paintings I invested in a nice camera to be able to photograph those paintings. Since I now had this nice camera, I began dabbling in taking portraits of people and eventually photographed a wedding. One wedding led into another and another and I realized my career path in psychology wasn’t something I wanted to do forever and I was severely missing a creative outlet in my career. With this revelation, I quit my job in Mental Health, went back to school to get my Master of Arts with concentrations in Photography and Painting, and built up my Wedding Photography business.

For over a decade I focused on Photography, creating paintings occasionally to have art to hang around my house (mainly portraits of my dogs.) In 2021 I photographed over 70 different sessions (weddings, portraits, etc.) and was insanely burnout. My husband and I had been talking that our “5 year plan” was to move out of the cornfields of Indiana to somewhere with mountains. On a trip to Lake Tahoe, we decided not to wait any longer and began our house search.

We ultimately landed in the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire. Part of our move was so that we could establish a better work-life balance and get to do more of the things we enjoy in nature. Living in such a beautiful place with so much wildlife inspired me to revisit my love of oil painting again and the dream of becoming an artist finally grew roots.

My journey feels like it was full of twists and turns that ultimately led me back to what medium I have been the most passionate about, painting.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My oil paintings are deeply inspired by light, nature and the abundance of wildlife in the North Country of New Hampshire. I moved to the White Mountains in 2023 with my husband and our pack of Siberian Huskies. We wanted to live a place with access to the mountains and better winters for dog-sledding. Here, I quickly found myself immersed in the area’s rich wildlife and stunning natural scenery—much of it visible right from my own yard. That immersion into nature quickly became a driving force in my work. I utilizes metal leaf within my oil paintings to capture the ephemeral way light moves through the natural world—sunlight filtering through forest canopies, glinting on water, and reflecting off snow. Through this interplay of light and metal leaf, I explores themes of time, and the transient beauty of nature.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

For me, learning the fundamentals of composition, color, and lighting are the three areas that have been the most impactful on my art journey. Those three things have been aspects of my photos, paintings, and drawings that helped to elevate my work. There are so many amazing tutorials and videos even just on YouTube where you can learn all of these things without having to invest into a formal education.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

My parents always told me if I worked hard and put my mind to something I could do anything I wanted. I think this advice helped to create my work ethic and also encouraged me to think that anything I wanted to do was attainable.

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