About Karin Moorhouse

www.karinmoorhouseart.com
karin@karinmoorhouse.co.uk

“From town to country and the journey in between” is the title I feel describes my current landscape paintings. For some time I have been absorbed with roads and driving and how we “get there” wherever we are going but I am also deeply connected to coastline and field and utter stillness.  And surprisingly to me since living in the country my ties with London have strengthened not weakened. My heart is happy in many places and finally all “my places” are talking to me in my paintings. I seek to be very much in touch with my surroundings and to respond to how my day feels; to convey the texture of that day.
 
In my portraits I am looking for that moment of lost awareness and private thought in my sitters though individual personality will dictate the style and sometimes the formal pose and gaze will convey more. Spending time together and getting to know my clients helps make the decision of the pose and enriches the final piece.
 
During 2014 I was Artist In Residence at The Earl Collector’s Garden, Arundel Castle and I recorded the changing year in my series of paintings from this time all painted en plein air. This was an exiting project and different from the main body of my work as it was so time dependent and intended to capture change rather than hold a constant.
 
Colour is variable and for me it carries weight and depth. Light is the essence of my day. And so these elements are at the core of my figurative work. I am the observer and the participant. I stand apart and I watch and look but the very act of standing at my easel means I am part of what I am painting too. The edges of being and looking are blurred as are the edges of light and dark in my work as is the time passing when I am absorbed. And being absorbed can often mean my “other” mind is elsewhere, observing something else in my mind’s eye perhaps. And so I am connecting with my inner and outer landscapes.
 
I work mainly in oil on canvas and I naturally like to vary my scale. Much of my work originates en plein air but I then refer to these studies and develop my themes in my garden studio in West Sussex.
 
Painting is the answer and the question.