Meet Chris Hartsfield

My watercolor paintings on paper included street scenes, nautical themes, landscapes and still life. Around 2010, my focus turned to still life paintings featuring bourbon, wine, and spirits imagery, and in 2013, Buffalo Trace Distillery commissioned me to paint a watercolor original for their corporate offices. My bourbon paintings craze was launched! Popular with my younger collectors, I began printing giclee (canvas), affordable reproductions and they became a hit on the show circuit.

In 2015, I experimented with a new medium and body of work. Shifting from watercolor realism to acrylic painting on canvas became a passion. Creating more than 450 original paintings using acrylic and India ink, I transitioned from realism and utilized flat planes of color, line, and collage. This new style drew new patrons. Although my realism collectors were politely supportive of this new work, “We like your other work” was the usual response!

Around 2018, I began creating “representational” abstract landscapes and nautical themes. Continuing to paint on canvas using acrylics these paintings varied in size from large to small. In 2020, while homebound during the Covid pandemic I started a new body of work…again, large to small acrylic paintings but in the realism style. My focus was on landscapes and marina scenes.