Where the Ravens Are

When it comes to painting, Karen has three speeds.  Full speed ahead, (get out of the way, clear the decks because I’m fired up); all manner of preparation; and dead stop.  When she’s on a roll, there’s no slowing her.  Karen’s creativity awes me.

She was in the full speed mode when she painted her diptych “One Last Thing.”  At a friends suggestion, she went to a workshop with local artist Doris Olsen whose workshops focus on one kind of critter or another.  While the instructor and rest of the class watched in awe, Karen painted “And One Last Thing” at the “Raven workshop.”   Karen took the workshop as a way to branch out into acrylics.  Obviously she flowed from watercolors to acrylics with ease.

                           One Last Thing    Two 10 X 10 inch paintings    Acrylic on Canvas

Karen’s preparation side is exemplified through rearranging the furniture in her studio or through her photography.  Fortunately, photography trumps.   For example, I found a note today signed with a quick sketch of a raven.  The note simply said, “At Dump.”  Yes, when she’s into ravens, Karen goes where the ravens are.  I wonder how many guys in this country can say their wife hangs around at the dump?  However, you may see some postures of ravens she captures today in future paintings set in our local forests.  Then again, knowing Karen, she could make a wonderful work of art depicting a wise raven at the dump reading a discarded magazine.