Every picture tells a story
Above: One of Karen's pieces
MANUDEN, which lies across the Hertfordshire/Essex border, has been Karen Adams’ home since she was young girl and is still a place that is close to her heart. When Karen embarked on her artistic career it was the Hertfordshire and Essex countryside, its quaint thatched cottages, Tudor beams and red brick facades that inspired her early works and continue to be of inspiration today.
Beautiful stained glass windows from the medieval built churches have influenced Karen’s techniques to the extent that they are both colourful and tactile. ‘First I chose six different properties close to where I lived, asked the owners if they minded if I painted a picture of their homes then got on with it,’ says Karen, ‘When they were finished I took them to the owners for approval and five of the six sold instantly.’
Although Karen has always had a flare for art – she studied A level art at school and held the school’s first ever solo exhibition by a student – her life after school took her in a different direction. Karen studied graphic design at the Harlow Tertiary College and then went on to the Regency Academy of Fine Arts in London to study domestic and commercial interior design, decorative paint techniques and wall finishes but it was not until some time later when holidaying in the Lake District and visiting an art exhibition that she was inspired.
On returning home Karen set about painting and developing her technique. Combining her art skills with those of her interior design qualifications, she brought together colour and imagination to produce work that is becoming highly sought after. Karen says, ‘Each painting will take roughly five weeks to complete. From starting with a blank canvas I add papers, fabrics, string and other items then colour with layers and layers of different coloured acrylic and emulsion paints and varnishes until I get the desired result.’ Karen’s work is both representational and abstract, of which she says ‘It’s like ceramic on canvas but framed and mounted. I have my own style and have developed my own techniques. It’s my interpretation of an image but I want people to recognise it and want to touch it, like sculptures but on canvas.’
The colours Karen chooses are also influenced by her interior design training, she likes to use families of colour; burnt sepia and summer pudding dusted with a coating of gold or bronze powder. In just three years Karen has sold more than 64 paintings, 18 commissions and her work has sold in France, Spain, New Zealand and Bermuda. In 2006 she was the winner of the ‘Beginner Abstract or Experimental Art’ in an international competition organised by the Society of All Artists (SAA). This year one of Karen’s two entered paintings was one of 2,000 shortlisted from entries of some 13,000 for the Royal Academy’s 2007 Summer Exhibition, of which the academy commented that Karen’s was a remarkable achievement for a newcomer.
Having spent the last eight months working tirelessly for her forthcoming exhibitions in and around Hertfordshire and Essex, Karen is hoping her name will become better known and hopes to be exhibiting and selling through galleries next year.
Article taken from November issue of Hertfordshire Life