Karen Budan

Karen has had a lifelong desire to express herself through art beginning with paint by number kits at a very early age, which quickly moved outside the lines established by others to create her own compositions. Although circumstances led her to pursue a very successful first career in educational administration, she always held alive her art interest through classes and workshops. These opportunities were treats to be savored. After retiring, Karen and her husband relocated to Scottsdale, AZ. A major decision point for choosing Scottsdale was the art opportunities available of which she has taken full advantage resulting in her growth as an artist. Karen soon found her art interest becoming a second fulfilling career.

 

Karen initially was a plein air painter painting landscapes. However as part of an art group challenge activity, Karen found herself with a glass goblet to create a painting around.   This situation resulted in her setting up her first still life composition and she was hooked.  She found that painting still life allows her to create arrangements, adjust the lighting, and set the stage to transform everyday objects to extraordinary. In considering a still live setup for a painting she strives for bold yet warm colors and lighting that creates strong contrast. She is especially drawn to compositions that include translucency and reflections.

 

Although Karen originally painted with pastels, in recent years she has moved to oil painting. Her painting style is hyper-realistic…she thrives on the challenge of transferring the complex subtleties of the color, texture and light patterns of the composition before her onto a two dimensional surface resulting in a painting that looks as real as the setup itself.

 

National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society – Signature Member

Oil Painters of America – Signature Member

American Women Artists – Associate Member

International Guild of Realism – Juried Member

International Association of Pastel Societies – Master Circle Member

Pastel Society of America – Signature Member

Arizona Pastel Artists Association – Signature Member

 

 

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.