Kirsty Smith Innis
Born in England the youngest of seven children, Kirsty Smith Innis emigrated to America at the age of 3. She was raised on the edge of Port Salerno's Seabranch Preserve, spending much of her childhood shadowing her artist-craftsman father, Michael Smith. Armed with sketchpads, the two of them spent hours wandering the preserve's scrubby flatwoods and natural communities. "Every trip, those trails produced a world of wonder, something new and exciting to discover and draw," Kirsty remembers. "I soaked up all my father could teach me."
Today, Kirsty's bold paintings pay homage particularly to the creatures that share her Martin County home. Through her website, she has been commissioned to paint pets, people portraits and all things wildlife. Her distinctive personal style expresses a vibrant spirit and, as one of her clients observed, "seems to look into their soul." She works primarily in pencil, pastel, watercolor and acrylic.
Kirsty, a single mother of two during most of her 20s and 30s, took a circuitous route to the artist concentration she cultivates today. She graduated from South Fork High School in 1988, immediately joined the armed services as an Army Intelligence Spanish linguist and -- after the birth of two children and a divorce -- graduated in 1997 with a B.A. degree in fine arts from the University of Texas Rio Grande in Edinburgh, Texas.
"While the kids were growing up, I necessarily had to focus on them and full-time employment," she says. "But I crept away to my easel late at night, as often as I was able. I had such a passion to capture the natural journeys I saw around me."
With the children grown, Kirsty returned in 2021 to the Martin County she always loved, throwing herself into her art in her downtown Stuart apartment. She is a member of the St. Lucie Cultural Alliance and Martin Arts and has donated her services as an artist to local nonprofits.
