Karen Kanas paints landscapes and abstractions that are infused with emotional intensity. Influenced by her studies in the performing arts, Kanas credits theater as having molded her creatively into the artist she is today. She considers the opportunity to tell a story through her work as being a connecting thread that has run across the various creative disciplines that she has worked in. Kanas’ artistic process entails creating a custom acrylic palette for each of her paintings. She chooses one dominant color to take precedence throughout each piece, providing the foundational tone for the work.
In her paintings, Kanas aims to capture the beauty and essence of a moment in time. The themes she paints reflect her own changing moods and the passing of the seasons. Kanas’ confident and dramatic brushwork gives her pieces a brooding and stormy quality. Swaths of tumultuous and painterly brush strokes surround smoother and more sculpted forms. This contrast between serene and turbulent brushwork gives Kanas’ paintings an intriguing depth. With their characteristic sweeping motion and strong sense of color Kanas’ paintings are absorbingly evocative.