The other day at the art supply store I walked past the scratchboards. I haven't done a scratchboard project since art school. Something about the medium is very appealing to me, even though I tend to avoid details and perfectionism in my art. It is incredibly satisfying to coax an image out of the black background, using a minmal number of scratches and lines to convey shapes and emotions. It is the opposite process from most mediums, rather than adding color, on scratchboard you take it away. To me it's like solving a problem. I have to think backwards, and use the empty spaces to 'tell the story' rather tan filling them in. And I also get a lot of satisfaction out of the minute details, which, as I said, is usually against my nature.
So I decided to do something refreshingly different, stretch a different part of my brain, and I bought an 8"x10" board. This project felt like it drew itself. It only took me half of a day to complete it.
Please inquire directly if you are interested in checking availability of originals. karrie@steelydesign.com If you'd like to buy print reproductions of select originals, click here....
I’m a 3rd generation Colorado native, a descendant of truck drivers & scientists. I’ve worked in many fields, from homeless shelters to entrepreneurial endeavors. But when asked what I am, I say that above all I am a mother, an artist and a horsewoman.
Being surrounded by animals and nature is essential to my work. My studio is a retrofitted RV that is parked at a farm, surrounded by my horses and farm critters. I’m passionate about the profound relationships that horses have between each other and with their women, and I express that through my art. My favorite medium is livestock marker (a large, oil-based, very permanent ‘crayon’). I love the paradox of using a tool that ranchers use for marking livestock to bring these animals to life on canvas!
I create because I feel compelled to share the beauty I perceive in the world. My art is a conduit between the realm of feeling and emotion, and the concrete corporeal world.
Biography
Karrie began her art career at a young age. She won her first blue ribbon as a six-year-old in a regional youth art competition. She attended art classes at the local university with her mother as a young girl, and was accepted into a juried show for adults at the age of fourteen. She continued to study and show art though high school. She graduated from Colorado State University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, concentrating in Graphic Design and a Spanish minor.
After taking time off to raise her two young daughters and experiment in other fields, Karrie returned to her passion. She worked as a graphic designer in various positions, and later managed a ceramic studio where she taught ceramics painting. During this time she became a professional muralist. She regularly volunteers her time and talents to organizations that benefit children, horses, and animal-assisted therapy.
Karrie is now dedicated to fine art, focusing on large pieces rendered in livestock marker, as well as scratchboard and scratchboard and gouache miniatures. She is also working in warm glass, incorporating glass with found farm objects such as horseshoes. She won first place in mixed media in the first two shows that she entered upon her return to competition this fall: the 2008 National Women and Horses Expo Art Show, and the Lafayette Arts Council 2008 Community Show.
solving a problem. I have to think backwards, and use the empty spaces to 'tell the story' rather tan filling them in. And I also get a lot of satisfaction out of the minute details, which, as I said, is usually against my nature.
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