'Nature and flowers can tap into our emotions and trigger our own store house of memories. Painting and the exploration and possibilities with the paint, are as important as the subject. Paintings are built up, scratched into, wiped out and worked into over and over again. They are intended to be intimate portraits, more about discovery than literal – capturing what is moving and powerful about nature.'
Karen grew up in Warwickshire and Gloucestershire where she had a lot of freedom to roam the countryside and her attachment to the natural world developed. She studied Fine Art at Exeter College of Art in the late eighties, and then spent the following years in London, designing for companies such as John Lewis, Designers Guild and Camden Graphics. Before her time at Exeter, Karen completed a Foundation Course in Art and Design at Cheltenham Art College in the 1980’s and returned there to complete an MA in Fine Art in 2012.
For Karen, painting and the exploration of paint, are as important as the subject. Her works are intimate and studied portraits that are more about discovery than literal representation, they attempt to capture and express what is moving and powerful about nature.
'Flowers are a passion of mine and these paintings reflect pure joy but also hint at something deeper, tapping into our collective memories and emotions.'
Karen has been selected for the Lynn Painter Stainers Competition, the Royal West of England Academy and the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. She is a member of the Arborealists and has shown at the John Davies Gallery and Hidcote Manor.
For Karen, painting and the exploration of paint, are as important as the subject. Her works are intimate and studied portraits that are more about discovery than literal representation, they attempt to capture and express what is moving and powerful about nature.
'Flowers are a passion of mine and these paintings reflect pure joy but also hint at something deeper, tapping into our collective memories and emotions.'
Karen has been selected for the Lynn Painter Stainers Competition, the Royal West of England Academy and the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. She is a member of the Arborealists and has shown at the John Davies Gallery and Hidcote Manor.
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