KAREN BIRCHWOOD ARTIST
  • Home
  • Paintings
    • Paintings for sale
    • Sold Landscape
    • Sold Seascape
    • Sold Still Life
    • Sold Garden
  • Exhibitions/ News
  • Prints and Cards
    • Prints
    • Cards
  • About
    • Artist Biography
    • inspiration
    • Testimonials
    • Buyers guide
Artist Biography
'My paintings are a reflection of how I see my surroundings.
​ I see my world in colour and image. A visual dialogue to myself'


 My work reflects my personal perspective on how I view my surrounding, and I hope giving someone who buys a piece of my work, a new way of looking at their world maybe seeing something in the painting that means something to them. I use mainly acrylic and mixed media, on canvas, board and paper. Collage has become an important element, giving a painting an added dimension and texture. I work intuitively from the start of a painting with colour and form letting a painting develop with spontaneity. Its important to me to create a sense of space, to balance areas of intense colour and form. I often use rags rather than paint brushes. I might wipe away whole areas in order to get the balance right in a piece of work. Sometimes scraping or washing off areas to reveal hidden marks and colours, always trying to create a sense of movement and energy in a painting.


Below is a short film of me at work


            Film by Dominic Manson
Picture
Picture
I don't often sketch but prefer to work directly on canvas but I do keep 'inspiration' sketch books. These books are very much part of my process, they inspire and inform my paintings. I build pages from a variety of things like magazines, off cuts of paintings, bits of fabric, photographs and drawing. I also love to walk in the countryside or along the coast, as well as visit my favourite gardens. I do take photographs for reference but much prefer to just remember a place when I paint. My home is very much an extension of my work. I constantly group objects and colours together which directly reflects in my paintings and of course my garden which is a constant source of inspiration.

​Please take a look at my inspiration page where I have collected together a few of the things that inspire my work and some pages from my sketch books 
 " There isn't a particular one thing that inspires a painting. It might be a group of trees I spot on the horizon, a colour, or crops in a field, creating patterns in the land. A simple cup or group of pots on a shelf or twisted wire on a beach or simply a strong connection to a place that gets under my skin. Holding that image in my head translates onto the canvas. I often start a piece of work without much idea of how it will develop but from a sweep of colour, that memory starts to unfold on the canvas."
Picture
Picture

I am represented by a number of UK galleries and my paintings are owned by collectors nationally and internationally. My work has been selected by The Society of Women Artists and I am a selected member and committee member of the Rye Society of Artists.  


​I started my career as printed textile designer. Gaining a BA Hons Degree in Printed Textiles at Middlesex Polytechnic in 1989 and worked for many years in London for one of the leading textile design studios in the UK. I established myself as one of their top selling designers and became head designer during my time with the studio. I created designs for both fashion and furnishing fabrics for companies such as Laura Ashley, Miss Selfridge, Monsoon and Fenn Wright & Manson. I also was commissioned to design ceramics and tableware for the home store Habitat. After moving back to my home county of Kent, England in 2004 with my family, I was able to follow my long held desire to paint. My background as a designer has certainly been an important influence in my career as a painter.
​​
2021

Rye Society of Artists Spring Exhibition, Rye Gallery, East Sussex

Clouds, an exploration of atmosphere, group exhibition, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex


South East Open Studios, 2 artists

West End House Gallery, Summer Exhibition, Smarden, Kent
​

2019

Pure Autumn Art Fair, Selected Artists, Battle, East Sussex

Rye Society of Artists Summer Exhibition, Rye, East Sussex

Society of Women Artists, Annual Open Exhibition. The Mall Galleries, London.

South East Open Studios, 5 artists

Where the Light Dances, Solo Show with Kate Schuricht's ceramics,  Padstow Gallery, Cornwall

Fresh Art Fair, with West End House Gallery, Cheltenham Race Course

Rye Society of Artists Spring Exhibition, Rye Gallery, East Sussex

2018

Kent Painters Group Annual Exhibition, Sevenoaks, Kent

Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park, London

Rye Society of Artists, Summer Show, Rye, East Sussex

West End House Gallery, Summer Show, Smarden, Kent

Artologie, featured artist, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath

Rye Society of Artists Spring Show, Rye Gallery, East Sussex

2017

 Kent Painters Group Annual Exhibition, Sevenoaks, Kent

Affordable Art Fair with West End House Gallery, Battersea Park, London

A Collective View, West End House Gallery, Smarden, Kent

 Rye Society of Artists Summer Show, Rye, East Sussex

South East Open Studios with Kate Schuricht


Rye Society of Artists Spring Show, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex 

Smallhythe Studio, Six of the Best, Tenterden, Kent

2016

Pure Autumn Art Fair,Selected Artists, Battle, East Sussex


Kent Painters Group Annual Exhibition, Sevenoaks, Kent

Affordable Art Fair with Avery Contemporary Art, Battersea Park, London

 Hybrid Gallery, Ten Summers in the country, Honiton, Devon

 Rye Society of Artists Summer Show, Rye, East Sussex


South East Open Studios with Kate Schuricht

Rye Society of Artists Spring Show, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex

2015


West End House Gallery, Group Christmas Exhibition, Smarden, Kent

VK Gallery, Group Autumn Exhibition, St Ives, Cambridgeshire

Kent Painter's Group Annual Exhibition, Sevenoaks, Kent

Colour Dance, Solo Show, West End House Gallery, Smarden, Kent


Rye Society of Artists Summer Show, Rye, East Sussex

SeeArt Fair, Tunbridge Wells with Gallery Gunn 

South East Open Studios 

 Rye Society of Artists Spring Show, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex 


Affordable Art Fair, London with The Art Agency Gallery

VK Gallery, Group Spring Exhibition, St Ives, Cambridgeshire 

 Art Agency Gallery, January Featured Artist, Esher, Surrey



​


Please contact Karen for any information 
karenbirchwood@btinternet.com

​
for latest exhibition news click here


If you are interested in buying a print I have a range of prints with
King & Mcgaw Art Prints

Please click on the link below

King & Mcgaw Art Prints




For all information on my paintings, shipping packing and returns please click on the buyers guide below
Buyers Guide
Copyright©2022 Karen Birchwood



  • Home
  • Paintings
    • Paintings for sale
    • Sold Landscape
    • Sold Seascape
    • Sold Still Life
    • Sold Garden
  • Exhibitions/ News
  • Prints and Cards
    • Prints
    • Cards
  • About
    • Artist Biography
    • inspiration
    • Testimonials
    • Buyers guide