Krystii Melaine

“Painting is my life and life is my subject! Exploring the life force within each individual and expressing something about their experience is what inspires me. Whether a cowboy, his horse, Native Americans, or the birds and animals of this land and beyond, it is the spirit of each living being that I seek to portray and share with the world.”

At the age of four, Krystii Melaine announced that she was going to be an artist, and has pursued a creative life ever since. Following studies in painting, drawing, photography, and graphic design, Melaine became a fashion designer, establishing her bridal wear company which became one of the largest in Australia.

A desire to return to painting led to five years studying traditional tonal realism, and more than thirty years as a successful realist painter, first in Australia and then in the USA. Inspired by people and animals, Melaine has focused on the American West, exploring its diverse people, horses and wildlife. Exploring abstract backgrounds on many of her Western and wildlife paintings brings a fresh, modern look, as she is always seeking new ways to see the world and express its hidden secrets.

Melaine participates in major museum exhibitions and has won numerous awards including two museum purchase awards. In 2023, Krystii was awarded the Artist of Distinction at Quest for the West, providing a retrospective exhibition of her works in the Eiteljorg Museum in 2024. Annual exhibitions include Night of Artists at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, Quest for the West at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, Western Visions at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, and the Buffalo Bill Art Show at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.

Krystii is a Master Signature Member of the American Women Artists and a member of the Portrait Society of America.