My sweet and beautiful wife Kris lost her battle to cancer on December 21, only two days shy of her 41st birthday. In many ways, Kris was the backbone of Splotch Monster Island, taking care of the technical side of things like the website, finances, the making of giclee prints and stickers, etc, while I did most of the fun stuff, like the splotching and drawing. That’s not to say she wasn’t involved in the artistic process at all - quite the contrary. In fact, the most popular series of Splotch Monsters by far, was because of Kris, who collaborated on several series, including the Stop and Smell the Flowers batch, with her delicate and intuitive floral touches, and written captions (something of which she started), that brought so much joy to so many people at the start of the pandemic, when so many of us were in lock down and experienced a lot of stress and anxiety. My amazing wife was a modern Wonder Woman, who had her own artistic practice and obligations, yet cheered me on and championed these silly little monsters more than anyone else. Before Kris left this world, she said that if she got better she wanted to work with people who were sick or who also got cancer, and utilize her artistic practices as a means to healing, however the universe had other plans. That said, I know my sweet love’s work isn’t finished yet, as her influence and love of art and creativity and beauty has spread to her friends and fans alike. For now, Splotch Monster Island will be taking an extended hiatus, but there will be some good plans in the works to celebrate Kris’ life and work in the not-too-distant future. Kris’ obituary can be found
HERE.
-Steve Loya
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