Karen Johnston
ABOUT KAREN JOHNSTON
Karen is an absolutely lovely lady who greeted me warmly, chatting openly. When I connected Karen to her art it made sense. Her paintings are warm and charming – just like her.
Karen lives a lovely life in Napier, enjoying the wonderful weather, incredible surroundings and birdlife that feed her imagination and her works. She draws inspiration intrinsically from nature - beautiful paintings of familiar subjects that she knows and paints so well using a simple and elegant palette. |
Karen draws also from her photographs and memory recall of a year spent tripping around Australia – a time she thoroughly enjoyed. Gum trees appear amongst vast landscapes of billowy tall grass, a line of black crows on a fence. She doesn’t like to ‘paint a story’, she likes to take a small piece of it – to hint at the scene so that you know what it is about without giving away the whole vista, leaving something to your own imagination.
She has a diploma in drawing and sketching and has been painting for many years, having had a home gallery with her husband, a potter - for 4-5 years. She has exhibited with Creative Napier for some time and appeared in many group exhibitions. Karen has also sold internationally – mostly in the US where there is good demand for her work.
She has a diploma in drawing and sketching and has been painting for many years, having had a home gallery with her husband, a potter - for 4-5 years. She has exhibited with Creative Napier for some time and appeared in many group exhibitions. Karen has also sold internationally – mostly in the US where there is good demand for her work.
Karen likes to paint a variety of subjects, not wanting to stay with just one. She paints what she ‘likes to look at’ – simple, elegant and beautiful subjects or scenes that rest lightly on the eyes. Her handpainted tiles are gorgeous framed or unframed, and her small paintings are so beautifully done.
We invite you to enjoy as much as we do.
We invite you to enjoy as much as we do.