{"title":"Karen McCallum","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg style=\"max-height: 300px; max-width:55%\" src=\"https:\/\/helloart-prod-bucket.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/artist\/karen-mccallum\/karen-mccallum-profile.jpg\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKaren McCallum loved to play in the Mill Creek ravine in Edmonton when she was a kid, exploring the tree-filled playground for hours. She still loves to be outside where nature brings her joy and inspires all her contemporary landscapes. Her vibrant landscapes are connections to the beautiful places she has experienced. She loves the Alberta landscape, especially visiting Canmore, Alberta which provides endless inspiration for her paintings.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eKaren loves the fast-drying nature of acrylics and begins her paintings intuitively: brushing on fluid layers of luminous colour often dripping paint to quickly cover the white canvas. Hints of these underlayers ideally remain untouched and visible beside opaque passages of bold, loose brushstrokes. \r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eOne of her favourite techniques is negative painting where she paints in the background last. It’s a fun challenge to squint and find the positive shapes that she wants to keep in the foreground. She is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Alberta Society of Artists. You can find more of her art at Corner Gallery in Bountiful Market and at NOA Gallery in Bonnie Doon Centre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eARTIST’S STATEMENT\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a contemporary landscape painter born and raised in the prairies, I have a deep appreciation and connection to the Canadian landscape. It all started in the 70’s as a kid hanging out in the trees of Mill Creek Ravine in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. That’s where my love of nature began.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eI find peace and beauty in the natural world I explore. In this busy world filled with opportunities to be distracted, I feel calm and awe when I’m outside. Taking time to live in the moment and becoming acutely aware of what’s around me fuels my creativity and inspire my paintings. \r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eLandscapes fascinate me because they change before your eyes: the clouds move and morph, light continually changes, colours diminish and intensify. I try to capture the constant flux of this natural playground. Each brushstroke reflects the dynamic interplay of light, shadow, and movement, allowing me to convey the fleeting essence of the natural world as it shifts and evolves.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThe perfect medium for my impatience is acrylic. It’s fast drying, forgiving nature allows me to paint spontaneously and quickly. I begin intuitively, with layers of glazes—building up rich, translucent colour. Dripping and lifting colour and scratching or using tools to create interesting marks is part of this under painting too. Then it’s a push and pull of opaques and glazes to find the subject. I delight in negative painting and usually paint my background last. I want the viewer to see hints of my first layers and explore up close passages that look abstract. \r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eI am a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Vice President and Exhibition Coordinator for the Edmonton Chapter and a juried member of the Alberta Society of Artists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/helloart.com\/collections\/karen-mccallum.oembed","provider":"helloart","version":"1.0","type":"link"}