Karen Strand
(Longview, WA)

Shadow Thoughts, Oil on synthetic paper, 24" x 20" x 1.5"
Figure painted in oil on synthetic paper.

Our world is filled with so much that is beautiful; it can be hard to choose in a given moment what to draw or paint from all this bounty. But I find myself always drawn to the study of the human figure. It is so beautiful, and at the same time so elusive. The experience of working with a live model is deeply profound. I feel almost a spiritual connection with them as I make marks on a surface in an attempt to depict how I see them. What ends up on paper or canvas is something else, unpredictable, beyond what I actually see and closer to a feeling. That feeling is sub-verbal, a sense of our shared humanity and the connection of being alive in the same place and same moment of time in this vast, gorgeous world.