Karean Israel

Karen Israel

Karen Israel

My motivation to create comes from a desire to interpret, preserve, and share experiences of my everyday life. My previous professional/personal experiences straddled a line between practicality and creativity. Becoming an artist has been a journey of leaning on my instincts and being inspired by other artists.

Being an artist has helped me become more sensitive to the richness of the world around me. I’m constantly noticing how the light is shifting, or finding shapes and patterns hidden in plain sight. Over the years, my work has evolved from the representational to the impressionistic, with an occasional nod to the surreal. Giving each painting a solid design pattern, exciting color harmony and interesting edges enables me to hook the viewer and take them to new, surprising places. I now take great joy in teaching others how to see and commune with the world around them so that they, too, can record their reality.

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Gallery One Featured Artist Interview with Karen Israel

G1: Can you tell us about your passion for using the pastel medium?

Karen: Pastel allows me to explore color by mixing the pigments through layering. Pastel is immediate, needing no drying time and does not fade or yellow over time once the work is completed and behind museum quality glass.

G1: What role does design play in creating your engaging compositions?

Karen: Design is my top priority and is the skeleton onto which the other elements, such as color and texture, will build. I will often spend a few days sketching a variety of designs before I even begin painting. This is also true when setting up a still life in my studio. I will spend days with the design and arrangement of objects and the light/shadow before I embark on drawing or painting.

G1: What type of subject matter most inspires you?

Karen: It is not the particular subject as much as the design and arrangement of shapes and patterns of light which initially inspires me to paint. I am interested in painting any subject which tells a story or has a point of view.

G1: How has your art evolved over time?

Karen: These days, I paint representational subjects, but think in abstract terms when creating the design and overall concept. During the process of creating, I will ask myself this question: “What if?” Whether painting from life or from a photo reference, it is this question that prompts me to deviate from the literal. For example, if a certain design has a strong vertical and horizontal element, I will create a diagonal to balance this.

GI: Where do you see your art going forward into the future?

Karen: This question touches on the ineffable. I aim to follow my heart without a pre-determined outcome. There is a great excitement in this lack of planning and this, in turn, ignites my creativity.