Texas Hill Country
Wildly Vibrant Christa Peyton’s work reflects the joy of memories
By Sallie Lewis Schneider
T
wenty miles north of Fredericksburg, Christa Peyton has found home amidst a sea of rolling green hills. The artist and mother of two has lived in Fredericksburg since 2019, where she homeschools her young son, and expresses herself freely through the tip of her paintbrush. Peyton’s story is a colorful one that has been marked by many moves. Long before relocating from Dripping Springs to the Hill Country, the Army brat, along with her three siblings, grew up on bases such as Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Campbell in Kentucky. After her father’s untimely passing in 1977, her mother moved the family to the Texas capital, where the city’s quirky, authentic energy was a salve for young Peyton’s soul. “I loved Austin as a kid,” she said. “Lots of my friends were creative growing up.” Years later, after graduating from Texas A&M University, she met her husband in Houston while working in the oil and gas industry. “When we were dating in the nineties, we would come to Fredericksburg, and I remember thinking then, this is so neat,” she shared of the city. “We just loved it, so eventually we got here.” Since making the move, Peyton has experienced a creative renaissance. “At first, I was going crazy,” she said, admittedly. Though a stark shift from city life, the transition forced her to embrace the silence and use it to her benefit. “The calm and solitude absolutely gave me the quiet I needed,” she opined. “It opened up a window for me to create with no outside influences.” In 2023, the self-taught artist transformed her former hobby into a dedicated daily practice. She began by painting her favorite poppy flowers and depicting their delicate, richly pigmented petals and stems through layers upon layers of glossy red, pink, and orange strokes. For Peyton, the saturated hues that pulsed from these works became a visual reminder of the vivid Revlon lipsticks made popular in the 1980s. That connection ultimately got her thinking about the decade at large – which was a pivotal one for the artist – and inspired her next collection. “Movie quotes basically ruled our life,” she remarked 16