Trailside Galleries Presentsm - Krystii Melaine: Flying Home
I’ve been observing and painting birds for as long as I can remember. Growing up in Australia, I was always surrounded by parrots, cockatoos, and many other colorful and noisy species. As a shy, creative child, bird watching became a natural pastime. My earliest books were about birds, and I still have them. The brand of tea that my parents drank came with collectible cards depicting the birds of the world, and I eagerly collected them all. One of my earliest commissions was a drawing of a friend’s pet sulfur-crested cockatoo. I’ve always kept bird species lists wherever we lived, happily noting each new sighting. For a time, I volunteered with an organization that banded tiny migratory shore birds on the southern end of their journeys to and from the Arctic. Holding such delicate but intrepid birds in my hands was an amazing experience.
