Painting Classes with Karen Phillips Curran

Karen Phillips Curran, experienced watercolorist and mixed media artist, is offering painting classes this summer/fall. Karen,with her forty years of experience painting and drawing, will guide you to new ways to see the world around you. Her work ranges from watercolours of sun-drenched locales, to rural Ontario landscapes, figures, antique collages, alternative photo techniques and more. She invites you to come explore your creativity. Painting classes will take place in Karen’s Studio/Gallery, “Riverstones” in Burnstown Ontario.See samples of her work at www.phillipscurran.ca Call Karen at 613 432-8081 for further information and to register. Details on various Class descriptions are outlined below. Paintings by Karen Phillips Curran are available at Tay River Gallery in Perth.

Watercolour Basics for Beginners and Intermediate Painters.
Four weeks: Mondays 7- 9pm $120
August , September, October
Do you love watercolour? This class will look at the basic techniques; washes, colour mixing, graduations, layering, dry brush, wet in wet and more. Once you learn the rules, you can explore creative ways to break them. Paper will be available for purchase, or bring your own paper, paint and brushes.

Watercolours from Photographs
Four weeks: Mondays 9:30-Noon $120
August , September, October
This workshop will explore the possibilities and techniques of painting watercolours from your own photographs. Bring some photos to work from, paint and brushes and some stretched paper. Prepared paper can be available to purchase.

Colours, Pure and Simple
Six weeks: Wednesdays 7- 9pm $180
August , September, October
Discover the joy and the art of colour. Primary and secondary colour will be explored in detail each week, for six weeks. Familiarize yourself and become colour friendly.

OPEN STUDIO, watercolour
Ongoing: Mondays 2-5pm $35/session
For the painter who has some experience in watercolour and wants to move ahead on a project by project basis.

Walls, Windows, & Doors in Watercolour
Four weeks: Fridays 9-11:30 $120
August , September, October
Do architectural details capture your interest? Then this is the class for you. Walls, windows and doors have character, they tell a story. Explore these stories with watercolourist Karen Phillips Curran. Architectural imagery has been her passion for over 20 years. Bring your favourite photos to work from, or select from Karen’s wide array of architectural images. This is a class for those with some experience in watercolours. We will be taking your image from thumbnail drawings to finished paintings. Come prepared with paper, pencils, watercolours, brushes, and tracing paper. Paper will be available for sale.

Private or semi private classes are also available upon request. Paint along with Karen and learn the ins and outs of watercolour on a one-to-one basis. ½ day $120

"Urban Landscapes" Art Show Opens at Tay River Gallery

"Urban Landscapes" opens Wednesday April 8th at Tay River Gallery featuring paintings that portray architectural masterpieces, historical sites, and everyday settings. These paintings capture the charm, character, and beauty of the manmade environment in locales near and far.

Paintings of buildings document powerful symbols of our time and culture and reveal as much about the artist's inner vision as they record visually a place in time and memory. Buildings portrayed reveal much about our heritage, aspirations and dreams, and tell wonderful stories about the inhabitants of these structures, both past and present. Old storefronts, dwellings and landmarks largely go unnoticed as we go about our busy lives, but our urban environment is changing daily. These urban paintings freeze a moment in time for our reflection and enjoyment. The show provides artistic interpretations using very personal imagery and techniques from feature artists Keith Burnett, Paulette Sauve, Stuart Davison, Carla Miedema, Karen Phillips Curran, and Roberta Smith. The varied selection provides intriguing viewing. The settings portrayed include compositions of ordinary, everyday places, as well as very memorable places created with a perspective that encourages the viewer's interest and sparks the imagination. See views of Perth, Carleton Place and Killaloe, old Montreal, Quebec, Vancouver, Toronto, and destinations as far as Britain,Holland, France Italy, Greece. Some of the buildings depicted are constructs of the artist's mind and exist only in the artist's imagination.

Gallery artists John Alexander Day, Martha Markowsky, Mario Beaudoin, Rosemary Randell, Shirley Mancino, Stephen Rothwell, Deborah Czernecky, Antal Serences, Ernie Labelle and John Shea add a selection of paintings on the urban theme to the mix. All in all, there is a wide variety for many tastes in styles and subject matter during this two month show.

The public is invited to meet the artists at the opening reception on Saturday April 11 between 2 and 4 p.m. The "Urban Landscapes" show will run from April 8 until May 30^th.

Tay River Gallery is a fine art gallery located in Perth at 28 Wilson St. The gallery represents many accomplished Canadian artists from Eastern Ontario and Quebec with over 200 works on exhibit. The Gallery is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10a.m.-5 p.m. For more information contact Lisa Brown at (613) 264-5448 or visit the website at www.tayrivergallery.com

Winter Painting Afar: Karen Phillips Curran comments

Cobalt, a colour, a place, a dream, a tradition.
A 7 hour drive from Burnstown, a path I've not taken before, led me to Cobalt Studios, nestled on the edge of the Catskills, wonder and experience anew awaits me there, tantalizing me, teasing me, almost scaring me, until I settle in. Once I arrived at Cobalt Studios, a short walk through the wintry woods of New York State brings me to their 4 thousand square foot workshop. I am here for a month, time enough to learn and rehearse, then embed most of the tricks of my trade, theatrical set painting. I am an artist, who, when called upon, paints scenically, for the theatre that is. My hope is that after my time here, I will feel comfortable calling myself a scenic artist. Turning hopes and dreams into reality is the stock and trade of the artist is it not?

Collaboration, risk taking, geometry, absolute rendering capabilities, strength of character and physical strength, flexibility, ingenuity, persistence, diplomacy, intuition...are just a few of the required traits to be a scenic artist. The best tool a scenic artist has is ingenuity. Process is as important as inventiveness. What to do first; then what, these are the important questions, ‘think ahead’ is the absolute reigning motto. To have to go backwards is a nightmare, a waste of time and resources, not to mention spirit. A beautifully finished foreground usually comes after a fast and easy application of background. The question of tools comes into play, which tool is best for the job, most efficient. Often scenic artists use common tools in unique ways, as well as a raft of unique tools of their own. Bow lines, scenic foot, hand chalked snap lines, long handled brushes, bamboo poles, sprayers...etc

Then there is motivation. What is artistic motivation? Usually the designer creates the artistic motive. At the end of my stay there, it is a project, a challenge. I designed and painted a “small” muslin canvas, (by scenic standards) ~ only 9x12 feet. I planned it to include as many different paint surfaces as possible within its borders. It is a piece of hung drapery, crumpled folded, trussed, above an arched doorway, also curtained with sheer lace, and a heavy satin curtain with gold tassels. All is encased by a marble doorway, with a stone wall and a marble floor. Surely, this was a gleeful test of my capabilities, with lovely results! The Drapery is now hung up in the back music room at the Neat Coffee shop in Burnstown. (looks fabulous there)


The rhythm at Cobalt is comfortable even though the learning curve is steep, as I discover new ways to tackle old challenges. A sense of collaboration and a common goal permeates each day. At Cobalt we worked together, ate together and lived together, surely a test of character, diplomacy, compassion and a healthy dose of a recognition that we are in fact all in this together. Only working together will get the job done. It is not for the faint of heart. Shoot for the stars I say, I always do, guess I am an idealist.

My time away at Cobalt Studios near White Lake New York taught me many things, new ways to look at the paint surface, new ideas about things to do!
Creative energy abounds right now. I am in love with it all.
Off we go~
Karen Phillips Curran
February 2009


Karen Phillips Curran is an accomplished watermedia artist who works out of her studio gallery, Riverstones Gallery in Burnstown Ontario. She is also the scenic painter for National Arts Centre productions in Ottawa. A selection of works by Karen Phillips Curran is available at Tay River Gallery in Perth.