Christine Hyde
When artist Christine Hyde was a kid, a teacher said to her, “You know you only use 10 percent of the power of your brain.”
Christine, taken aback, replied, “No! I’m going to use it all.”
And, true to herself and her clients, she has summoned every aspect of her thinking/feeling processes ever since: massage therapy, healing methods, alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-, theta-waves, neuro feedback, hypnotherapy, meditation, and more.
Eight years ago, when her hands and bones retired from 34 years of healing arts and massage, she engaged her brain’s visual/analytical knowledge to create her current intrigue – oil painting.
Christine’s images (primarily wildlife) are filled with life and heart. It’s the kind of energy that flies off the canvas, straight into your soul with unique, magical, Christine brainpower.
Take that Miss Smarty-pants teacher of long, long ago!
How did Christine step from the world of massage into that of painting? Aside from being a dabbler in paint as a child, she insists it’s not a huge leap.
“When healing with massage, I tapped into alpha-waves. That opened a door to emotion which flows down your arm and renders beauty with a brush.”
She and her husband, Charlie Hyde, live on the forest’s edge in Glenville. Bobcats, bears, deer, and more frequent their wide-open studio.
She says, “I see them and they, me.”
Maybe it’s not a physical, but a kind of emotional massage that invites animal to human. But they don’t get too close. Just enough to grab a photo reference for a stunning capture later in oil.
“In the past few years, picking up a brush again felt like a continuance, not a re-start,” says Christine.
Even though considered self-taught, she takes workshops in far-away places with distinguished instructors.
She says, “Last year, I spent 10 days in South Africa, photographing wildlife from Cape Town and at the Kariega Game Reserve. I also attended a watercolor art retreat with instructor Sarah Stokes. This year, again with Sarah in Puglia, Italy.”
Add to those a Seattle finger-painting retreat with Kimberly Adams. And in Tennessee, oil painting with Kevin Hill. Other favorite artists are wildlife painter Joe Kronenberg and Sally Maxwell, master scratch artist.
Christine is delightful, her work outstanding, and clearly she’s a woman who engages her entire head on her amazing, artistic journey.
For more info, visit Christine’s website, artistchristinehyde.com. You can also call her at (828) 806-6436; or email artistchristinehyde@gmail.com.
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