Recently I opened my studio for the first time, to participate in a local studio tour.
To my surprise, I was asked the same question repeatedly regarding my painting process. I came up with an answer– which I could repeat, without having to get into the very personal process of explaining my work with a new answer each and every time I interacted with the people on the tour.

The truth of it is this: my work evolves on it’s own.  While painting, it either goes well, or, more often it does not go well, and it is a painful struggle, with lots of misses, and few hits on a given piece.  I have to keep working, painting, covering up, removing and adding layers, often really good layers get covered by mistake, and sometimes I make a lot of errors in judgment on a given painting.

Eventually, which is a mystery to me, a miracle happens, and somehow I get a given painting to meet my educated aesthetic requirements.  This is not easy, it is almost always a struggle, yet I keep going, keep challenging myself because it is so difficult.  If it came easily, I would be bored, and lose interest.  My process of painting is constantly evolving and changing.  I wish I could come up with a system– which works each and every time.  For me, it doesn’t seem to work that way.

Thank you for taking a look.
All my best,

~Karen