Artist Statement
My acrylic paintings are driven by an impulse to highlight the otherworldly in ordinary moments and illustrate the life within each subject. The imagery throughout my work is a mix of representational focal points and abstract atmospheres, one foot in nature and the other in the dreamworld. Intuitive brush marks, shapes and color choices from the looser beginning stages of a piece selectively show through in the completed painting, implying a halo of constant movement.
I’m fascinated by symbiosis and living networks within ecosystems, finding them comforting as well as evidence of a sacredness that connects all of us and must be protected.
Christina McLachlan (b. 1989) is an acrylic painter living in Bellingham, Washington. She was born in Finland while her mother was stationed in Moscow, a US Foreign Service Officer during the Soviet Union’s last years. Christina spent her childhood between the US and various countries overseas, including Kyrgyzstan and Australia. In every new place, nature became a common thread and guide to the world around her.
Christina received her BFA in Painting & Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. She continued to live in Richmond, Virginia for over a decade, and spent her free time exploring the James River with friends, drawing in her sketchbook and becoming immersed in the local art and music scenes. By example of her Richmond community, she came to know art as a device for hope, healing and mutual aid.
Moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2020, she’s since continued her art practice in her home studio, often painting figures entranced by spaces in nature. Christina loves animals and has been happily painting pet portraits since 2019.
McLachlan’s work has exhibited at multiple venues, including Gallery 5, Studio Two Three, and The Gallery at Main St. Station, in Richmond, VA; the 2018 and 2024 Radical Mycology Convergence in Mulino, OR; Dakota Gallery and Makeshift Artspace in Bellingham, WA; Ghost Gallery and Magnuson Park Gallery in Seattle, WA, and The Confluence in Twisp, WA.
For inquiries & Commissions please contact: c.mclachlan.arts@gmail.com