Karen Neu Wideman

Painter

Artist Statement

With a vibrant palette and broken brushstrokes, my passion is to share my love of God’s vast landscape to convey a message of hope!

Site 5

558 Alma St, Port Perry

About the Artist

Raised in Unionville, Ontario, Karen’s passion for art began at a young age, with her artistic talents coming naturally from her grandfather who painted scenes in oils or watercolour of his homeland in Hungary.

Karen chose not to continue her studies in art after high school to pursue other interests. Her love of art was rekindled by the influence of her mother who started to work on some decorative painting projects. Karen started back on similar projects and then soon decided to get back into painting on canvas with acrylics.

She began doing some courses and workshops to enhance her skills. One of the courses was art history, which once again ignited a love for the art of years gone by. Painting in acrylics became Karen’s first preference, with landscapes and florals being her common focus due to a love for the natural settings of God’s design. She loves to use a vibrant limitless palette and uses a technique of broken brush strokes which depicts a contemporary style influenced by many of her favourite artists. She loves to continue her learning through other artists and believes you can never stop learning and growing.

“My inspiration comes in many forms from the landscapes I capture in my journeys to the talents of master artists of the past, such as Van Gogh, Monet, Tom Thompson and many other artists from the The Group of Seven, just to name a few. I like to paint what the picture says to me with my greatest inspiration from my God, the master creator!”

During the pandemic, Karen was not motivated to paint for awhile. She felt a darkness over her, which eventually brought about her painting “Hope in the Shadows”. A painting used with very dark colours with a contrast of light in the background. From this came a revelation of a painting collection titled “Hope Arising”. Karen has done a slow release of this collection since Spring of 2021.

Before everything shut down due to the 2020 Pandemic, Karen taught children’s art classes in her home studio for over 10 years. Since then she has been trying to create and work on her new collection to share with the world!