Karen Tyler Art
Contemporary Paintings
"Never ruin a good painting with the truth" Henry Matisse. The Goldfish bowl (1921-22)
A wise and successful painter (my mom) once advised me to paint what I know. Amid an increasingly chaotic world, I have chosen a subject-matter that focuses inward, and invokes a feeling of times past. My paintings of abstracted interiors and nude figures reflect the true solace and comfort I find at home. Exploring the well-known theory that colors are a reflection of emotions, I strive to imbue a sense of energy and emotion to otherwise still and quiet subjects with saturated colors and layered textures. I do not find it contradictory to use bold colors to express the intimacy of my subject-matter. Accuracy and realism are also not a concern for me, but fresh application and spontaneous gesture are. The "truth" in any of my paintings is only limited by one's imagination. My use of colors and texture add new dimensions to the intimate scenes I depict, allowing the viewer to share my visual language. I invite you to scroll through my available and archived paintings to experience my dynamic and ebullient work.
My Process
I usually approach the start of a painting without having chosen my particular composition, focusing instead on the application of texture, my color choices, and the creation of an intuitive abstract painting. Those initial abstract paint layers serve as an underpainting which inspires my final decisions as to my subject-matter and composition. By using a palette knife over layered texture and applying transparent colors as many of my final paint layers, I allow my abstract layers to show through in varying degrees in each of my paintings.