Description
Drawn to the looser energy of painting outdoors, Karen Haines uses small wood panels and a limited colour palette to quickly sketch the patterns of light and dark. Travelling throughout Alberta, and contending with all the challenges of painting outdoors including the cold in winter and bugs in the summer, she explores direct light, reflected light, and diffuse overcast light. “My painting process is to drive randomly, following intuition until I spot something I need to paint”, she says. “I don’t have to travel far anymore as I truly see beauty everywhere. The back of my car holds all my painting supplies so I can pull over anywhere and paint.”
Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Karen Haines was born in Ontario and raised by Air Force parents who lived and explored across Canada and Europe. She has been drawing from her earliest memories, and began her studio practice in oils in 2002. She paints still life works in her studio, as well as plein air paintings outdoors. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in Alberta, Ontario and the United States.
