In the Meeting Room Gallery during August . . .
Inlet |
Karen Berman-Mulligan
Movement in Water
Artist Statement:
My favorite subject is the motion of the sea. I first work on site, quickly capturing the energy of the scene with broad brush strokes and complementary colors where the highest points of interest are for me. Bundled in a rain jacket or down coat, wearing latex gloves over winter gloves, you’ll see me out in the open, even in winter. I find that the more familiar I am with a place, the more I see it in a new way. There new details become my inspiration. I look for those differences – what has changed?
Acrylics are my usual medium, but sometimes watercolor on paper is the right material. My color palette tends mostly to blues, pinks, yellows, and grays. I use greens in unrealistic places.
I have entered a softer period, looking at interdependence, connection, co-existence, and mutual respect. I create movement and energy using lively brush strokes, and relationships between color, shape and form. Is it realism? Is it abstract? I skirt the line. The emotive expression honors how no two waves, rocks, or impressions in sand are alike. Because nature is always in flux, each experience is unique. My hope is that viewers of my paintings will see new and different aspects each time they come back to them.
Artist Biography:
My career as a software engineer began in 1980 at Prime Computer. A car accident lead to serious neck problems and surgery. It was during on of the in-between-jobs periods that I discovered a love for color, and color relationships, and took my first painting class – portraits in oils, in 1991. I was fascinated!
A later diagnosis of Fibromyalgia explained two things: one, the difficulty with strengthening my neck, and two, that painting was more than just fun, but it could reduce my pain level.
I continued taking classes, in drawing, color theory and painting, moving from oils, to watercolors, to acrylics. By now I was working in the language of color, form and line. I produced a line of art note cards with my paintings on them, which sold wholesale and retail. I painted portraits of people and animals on commission, and have been teaching privately for 6 years.
Getting to know a painting student and helping work through his/her painting problems is great fun. The young dancer in me insists that my subjects be moving. The ocean that I enjoyed as a teenage surfer, provides inspiration for my current work.
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