Karen Birchwood

'My paintings are a reflection of how I see my surroundings.
​ I see my world in colour and image. A visual dialogue to myself'

My work reflects my personal perspective on how I view my surrounding, and I hope giving someone who buys a piece of my work, a new way of looking at their world maybe seeing something in the painting that means something to them. I use mainly acrylic and mixed media, on canvas, board and paper. Collage has become an important element, giving a painting an added dimension and texture. I work intuitively from the start of a painting with colour and form letting a painting develop with spontaneity. Its important to me to create a sense of space, to balance areas of intense colour and form. I often use rags rather than paint brushes. I might wipe away whole areas in order to get the balance right in a piece of work. Sometimes scraping or washing off areas to reveal hidden marks and colours, always trying to create a sense of movement and energy in a painting.

I don't often sketch but prefer to work directly on canvas but I do keep 'inspiration' sketch books. These books are very much part of my process, they inspire and inform my paintings. I build pages from a variety of things like magazines, off cuts of paintings, bits of fabric, photographs and drawing. I also love to walk in the countryside or along the coast, as well as visit my favourite gardens. I do take photographs for reference but much prefer to just remember a place when I paint. My home is very much an extension of my work. I constantly group objects and colours together which directly reflects in my paintings and of course my garden which is a constant source of inspiration.