To Create From Within

Feedback from Karen Howell

I have been a career woman in the health and social services all my life until I became sick with a chronic illness – lupus, about 15 years ago. I have now retired at the age of 60 and have discovered that art is my love and my therapy. I find I have an urge to express myself through drawing and sketching, but mainly through paint on canvas.

When painting, I become lost in time and place, and yet I live in the present. It is hard to describe, but I am sure every artist understands. I want to be able to draw and paint with confidence, knowing that my final piece will be an accurate reflection of my mind, (or my soul as I feel sometimes), and not just an unskillful mess on the canvas!

I first studied art in high school at a very preliminary level, and over the years have revisited for the odd sketch or painting here and there, but definitely at a very amateur level. During long hospitals stays over the last 10 years I have sketched and coloured for hours at a time.

I am fortunate to live with my husband in an apartment near a beautiful tropical coastline which also has access to nearby hinterland walks with waterfalls and bush scenes. How I long to capture them on canvas! My true passion however is to learn to draw and paint portraits which at this stage I have no clue where to start.

As a beginner I am an ‘open book’ for learning, with few ‘bad habits’. To learn the ways of the old masters would be a joy and privilege. I want to learn everything, eventually moving onto portraits where I can capture a moment of my beautiful grandchildren, friends and loved ones forever on canvas. As the saying goes – a picture is worth a thousand words.

Whilst creating an artwork, I find that I also go through a range of emotions such as joy when I love a certain colour, the anxiety of not having confidence for the next brush stroke, or the stress when a brush hair is caught in the paint. There is also my personal emotional journey at the time, and the mood of the scene I am painting. Once I complete an artwork, I want to see the emotions and the mood reflected within the work and for them to be captured for others to recognise and interpret.

I view your membership as an amazing privilege and a gateway which will set me free as an artist and allow me to express freely and to create from a depth within, something I cannot reach with my current shallow knowledge.