Paintings by Karen Brosnan

VIRTUAL BAY ART GALLERY - KAREN BROSNAN

Karen Brosnan - "A Sense of Landscape."

Echoes I

“I see my work as an expression of the sanctuary I find in places such as the Hokianga and Golden Bay. If I manage to convey or evoke in the viewer similar feelings or awareness, then I feel a communication has been made.”

Karen Brosnan

Landscape Into Light IV

Storm Aftermath - Anatori I

Landscape Into Light III

Wind Dance Wharariki 1

Wind Dance Wharariki 2

Karen Brosnan - Background

Right from when I was a young child, I’ve always had a love for art and an attraction towards sky, sea and landform.

Hokianga Harbour Dunes

Growing up in small town suburbia, I sought refuge in the surrounding countryside and coastline of Hawkes Bay. Whenever I went to the city, it would be the galleries and gardens that attracted me.

As a young adult, I moved permanently to the country, spending most of my time in the far north, particularly the Hokianga. My passion for the land and for art was ever present and once my family had grown, with lesser demands on my time, I began to paint seriously.

Mangrove Estuary

With no formal training, I painted images of the Hokianga’s stunningly beautiful coastline and harbour with flora and fauna common to the area. The marked presence of the sand dunes featured time and time again…

Nikau Kereru

Although Hokianga will always hold a strong place in my heart - after a visit to Golden Bay, I became enamoured with the area and excited by the vastly different landscape. The gentleness of the light contrasting with the rocky formations was just one aspect. I began to explore and I imagine I will for some time yet.

Looking Through

With this change in location has come a change in the way I approach my work. This is shown in the way I present my images as well as the more prominent use of mixed media, moving away from pure watercolour. This gives me more scope and expression of movement.

Wainui 2

Prior to the shift, my works were more conceptual. I’d have “the idea” before I started. I was seeing and conveying what I was seeing. Then, on moving south, my style of work began to draw more from an inner focus.

Another's Vision

Waterfall 2

I started preparing everything, getting into a calm, centred, “quiet” space and allowing to happen whatever would happen.

This way of creating isn’t coming so much from an intellectual space. It’s conveying the emotive resonance of the subject.

Midnight On The Bay

Amorph
Private Collection

You can never quite express what one experiences in a meditative space. It filters through your past experiences and your emotions and who you are.

So, how can you describe something that no-one else can fully experience – and when half the time, you don’t know what you’re going to do next?

Amorph 2
Private Collection

Amorph 3
Private Collection

Untitled
Private Collection

Crossed 1
Private Collection

The intent behind my work remains the same. My work is still landscape-influenced – but now it is more about how I feel about the landscape or what the landscape says to me.

A “sense” of landscape.

Landscape Into Light II

Landscape Into Light I

Virtual Bay Art Gallery

Virtual Bay Art Gallery Entrance

Black Pete		Photography
Bronwynn Billens		Harakeke Weaver
Chontene Nathan		Stone Sculpture
Chris Condell		Bonecarvings
Claire Prebble		Wearable Art
Deb Price		Baskets
Galit Maxwell		Paintings and Ceramics
Grant Muir		Manufacturing Jeweller
Jocelynne Bacci		Stone Sculpture
Johanna Ward		Oil Paintings
Justin Ferguson		"Lunarsea" Carved Jewellery
Karen Brosnan		Mixed Media Paintings
Kathy Reilly		Paintings and Pen & Ink Drawings
Kim Anderson		Mixed Media Mirrors
Kim Westerink		Harakeke Weaver
Liza Eastman		Quilts
Lollo Kiki Gallery		Mirrors, Sculpture & Jewellery
Margaret Maloney		Paintings
Merrin Westerink		Acrylic Paintings and Pots
MONZA Gallery		Golden Bay Art
Paul de Jager		Pottery
Philly Hall		Paintings & Fibre Art
Pounamu		Harakeke, Pingao & Copper Weaver
Robert Perry		Fine Woodturning
Sarah Hornibrooke		Fabric & Fibre Art
T.A.G.		Wood Sculpture
Te Awhi Rito		Golden Bay Weaving Group
Uta Gay		Paintings
Wayne Costar		Jade Carver

Click HERE to visit beautiful Virtual Bay...