Through my gestural paintings I aim to capture those overlooked modest moments of beauty, revealed unexpectedly perhaps in the imperfect and the fleeting, but that nevertheless illuminate our humanity and our longing to connect with each other. I record the feeling and emotion of that moment of discovering beauty in the inconsequential.
Words rarely come easily for me, one thought splits into another and then another. Each blank canvas allows me to expressively explore the vocabulary of colour and marks as a way to record, without literal references, the thoughts, impressions, and memories of a singular day or place in time. I begin with spontaneous layers of mixed media such as graphite, acrylic, or ink, but after those first few freeing marks that break the surface of the canvas and give direction to the painting, each stroke and line is thought through and intentional.
The abstract imagery allows viewers to interact and connect with each piece in solitary exploration of the surface. It gives them the opportunity to shift their thoughts from the daily barrage of negativity, discontent, and rants now so common in our lives, to appreciating the beauty in each day waiting to be discovered. Perhaps even to finding value and contentment in what may at first seem inconsequential but is in fact essential to the human experience.
Karen’s work never fails to amaze me. It is unconstrained, airy, and fresh.
A Herron