karen's retreats
creative retreats
Sometimes I like to escape from my day-to-day life and retreat to focus and be absorbed in creating new art. I love to travel, experience new cultures and have the environment, the climate and people influence my palette and paintings. These are a few tidbits about some of the retreats I've gone on and how the resulting work evolved.
More discussion can be followed on my instagram @art_by_k2 & some of
the 'studio chat'.
Barbados
I was immediately struck by the intense heat of this island. Settling in to an airbnb was easy - a wonderful host family (grandaughter painted with me a couple of times), and I met up with a friend living there that I went to OCAD with - we picked up like it was yesterday! Climate was the biggest influence factor on my work here. From the strong winds and blowing clouds to light rains, I found the concepts for my paintings were direct reflections of these elements. I worked up 15 paintings in this month - many larger than I had anticipated - I had to hunt around town for canvas and primer to continue in the last week and getting them back to Canada was a bit of a challenge!
I titled this body of work — 'rhythms' – from a glimpse of happiness in a relationship to a look at possibilities, an investigation in to commitment, a search for personal strength and determination.
The rhythm of life style in Barbados had an amazing affect on me. I woke early, generally concept sketch/journaling for an hour or so and then launched in to painting all day til sunset. A retreat is not for everyone I know many people that would not be able to stand the silence and limited social engagement. This retreat was a great combo for me - my friend took me to a few galleries and we had a few nights catching up, discussing art and life but overall it was quiet and I was completely absorbed in the work.
I was immediately struck by the intense heat of this island. Settling in to an airbnb was easy - a wonderful host family (grandaughter painted with me a couple of times), and I met up with a friend living there that I went to OCAD with - we picked up like it was yesterday! Climate was the biggest influence factor on my work here. From the strong winds and blowing clouds to light rains, I found the concepts for my paintings were direct reflections of these elements. I worked up 15 paintings in this month - many larger than I had anticipated - I had to hunt around town for canvas and primer to continue in the last week and getting them back to Canada was a bit of a challenge!
I titled this body of work — 'rhythms' – from a glimpse of happiness in a relationship to a look at possibilities, an investigation in to commitment, a search for personal strength and determination.
The rhythm of life style in Barbados had an amazing affect on me. I woke early, generally concept sketch/journaling for an hour or so and then launched in to painting all day til sunset. A retreat is not for everyone I know many people that would not be able to stand the silence and limited social engagement. This retreat was a great combo for me - my friend took me to a few galleries and we had a few nights catching up, discussing art and life but overall it was quiet and I was completely absorbed in the work.
Bracebridge, Ontario
In 2016 my mom passed away. Her passing was a huge loss to me and I was drawn to spend some time in the area where she was born and raised. I was astounded by the intense level of emotions I experienced. It was a great reconnect to nature for me and I had visions in the water for two of the paintings I did and one that I'm yet to paint.
The paintings — point of origin, bridges, and permission — were the pieces I created that week. The titles tell you all that I went through in that week and where it has led me since. I would encourage every one to take a retreat - be alone with your thoughts, emotions and delve in to your core being. You don't have to paint to participate it's an opportunity for you to be internally creative and open.
In 2016 my mom passed away. Her passing was a huge loss to me and I was drawn to spend some time in the area where she was born and raised. I was astounded by the intense level of emotions I experienced. It was a great reconnect to nature for me and I had visions in the water for two of the paintings I did and one that I'm yet to paint.
The paintings — point of origin, bridges, and permission — were the pieces I created that week. The titles tell you all that I went through in that week and where it has led me since. I would encourage every one to take a retreat - be alone with your thoughts, emotions and delve in to your core being. You don't have to paint to participate it's an opportunity for you to be internally creative and open.
Over the years this has led me to develop creative retreats for others to participate in. I still want to do my own but realizing others may not enjoy the solitude, I've designed opportunities for like-minded individuals to get together and reap the benefits of this type of get away. You can check out the retreats I've designed beginner artists or art enthusiasts at www.studiok2.ca/art-experiences,
or as a professional artist see what's available at www.studiok2.ca/artist-to-artist/
Merida, Mexico
This was an amazing retreat albeit very isolating for me. It helped me determine what I require to have a great creative retreat. The language barrier, limited internet access and socializing was a little severe with this getaway. That being said, the environmental influence of colour on my palette was fantastic and has had far reaching effects. I had no expectations in terms of the art I would create and really pushed myself to arrive at new levels of texture and abstraction. I did 12 paintings in about 3 weeks working sunrise to sunset.
The colours and energy of the paintings surprised me and forcefully brought the concepts to life. The body of work followed a pattern of introspection to opening up and discussing relationship issues that I was going through.
Merida is a wonderful art-filled city - the galleries and museums are amazing, the architecture beautiful and the people warm and welcoming.