The paintings
Kristín Berta Guðnadóttir was born in and raised in Reykjavík but now lives in Hafnarfjörður. She studied at the Reykjavík School of Art and Myndmál art school run by artist Rúna Gísladóttir. She has also learned oil painting with Icelandic artists and learned acrylic painting and mixed media with foreign teachers.
Kristín Berta is also a social worker and a family therapist in a private practise, yoga teacher and intentional Creativity teacher. In 2020, she founded Sálarlist (soulfulart), where she teaches creative selfcare, combined with yoga nidra, mindfulness and meditation.
Kristín´s works are for sale and on display at both apolloart.is and The Gallerí at Skólavörðustígur 20, Reykjavík Iceland
Inspiration and process
Inspiration for her works comes primarily from Icelandic nature but also from life itself through the inner landscape of the mind and emotions. Kristín works with acrylic paint, watercolour and mixed media, as well as sometimes combining writing and imagery. The acrylic works are painted layer upon layer and in their sublayers are written messages, words or intentions about the positive energy, transformation or peace that the work brings, which, however, are not necessarily visible in the final result. Sometimes a sentence or poetic text is created that can accompany the work.
"When I approach a new work, I rarely have a clear idea of what is going to happen. Instead, I let the colors and shapes guide me, listen to what the painting wants to say and allow it to speak to me in its own language.
When visual and written language meet
Kristín´s paintings can be full of energy and life, but sometimes they carry a softness and calmness as if they whisper a secret that only the most attentive viewer can sense.
"While I work, I often find myself drawn to certain words or fragments of text that seem to capture the essence of what the painting is trying to say. I write them down in a notebook or into the painting itself and allow them to seep into the work and the energy around me. When the painting is finished, I sit down with my journal, look at the work and start writing from what comes to me. If there is a text or message with the image, it always comes to me effortlessly. Each painting tells its own story or carries a message, and if nothing comes to me, I know that the colors and images want to be left alone without text.
Works for sale
-
Brighter days
View on apolloartIsn't that wonderful?
When the morning sun sneaks into the day
after a snowy winter?
The sky golden and full of hope,
of brighter days.
May light fill your days
-
To rest and simply be
View on apolloartIn the stillness between the wind’s gentle stirrings, life slows down.
There, one can rest and simply be.
There, one can listen and hear the heart’s quiet calling.
In the silence that transforms everything it touches.“May you find stillness, and hear the calling of your heart.”
-
Circuit
View on apolloartThe leaves do not all grow at the same time.
They do not all fall at the same time.
Do the leaves that hang until October,
miss those who fell at the end of August?The cycle so beautiful.
The falling leaves.
Joining the earth,
and appear in each new bloom.May you find the beauty in the cycle of life
The shapes of shadows
In many of Kristín's works, you can find shadow forms of trees or flowers. The shadows and the negative shapes of the trees is her inspiration.
Many try to avoid the shadows within, yet it is often there that our deepest growth begins.
When we dare to pause and look beneath the surface.
Watercolours
-
Veil of clouds and deep longing
Watercolor on paper, 10x10 mounted on wood panel and sealed with cold wax
-
Weather that moves everything
Watercolor on paper, 10x10 mounted on wood panel and sealed with cold wax
-
When autumn came with a fresh start
Watercolor on paper, 10x10 mounted on wood panel and sealed with cold wax
