Called “Poetry on Canvas”, Karen Fedderson’s traditional oil paintings, capture and celebrate the beauty of the California coastal landscape. Karen focuses on the magnificent landforms, the water and the plant life that occur in the unique conditions of light and atmosphere near the sea. With expert and patient brushwork she captures a high level of detail, while her rich and subtle coloration and deep atmospheric perspective bring out the feelings and emotional qualities of her experience at each location. The paintings range from dramatic Coastal Panoramas to intimate Field Studies. In some works the pounding surf, the whipping winds and the rugged cliffs were the inspiration, these represent the California coast at its wildest. Other pieces show a very peaceful, tranquil view of the seaside.

Karen Fedderson's coastal paintings focus on three areas of the California Coast: the Golden Coast from Ventura to Cambria, the Big Sur to Monterey Peninsula area and the North Coast beyond San Francisco. In her travels the lyrical landscapes of inland areas of California have caught her eye. Her paintings of the gentle rolling hills, lakes and creeks are captured with the same emotionally charged sensitivity as her coastal paintings.

Inspired by her deep love of the pacific coast, the paintings magically transcend paint and canvas and become energized events that transport the viewer to the time and place where she first felt the exhilaration.

About the painting process
Karen Fedderson paints primarily from memory. Her love of nature, especially the California coastal landscape, is her inspiration and allows her to spend the hours of intense observation needed to perfect her vision. The process is symbiotic – the whole being greater than the sum of it’s parts – the end result, the finished painting, is greater than any of the steps of the process leading to it’s completion.
Karen Fedderson has studied the effects of sunlight and atmosphere at different times of the day and all seasons in locations throughout California, especially the coast. When the time and color are right for a particular place she might say “The light is right at Butterfly” or “Let’s go to Avila tomorrow morning, I think it will be just right”, and it usually is. Karen’s process of developing the imagery in her paintings is unique. When she finds the right day for the right place she will walk the area and study the way the light changes the possible compositions. Then she spends time intensely studying the subject and finally begins sketching. As the place reveals its secrets to her she continues sketching and taking notes. She shows her husband the sketches and directs him to photographically record the overall scene and particular details that she will refer to when she is painting. Occasionally she will do a color field study, however this is rarely needed, because the image is permanently ingrained into her memory by the time she finishes sketching. The painting is already done; she just has to get it down on canvas.
The actual painting begins with a quick layout of the composition and basic color areas on the canvas. When this first layer or under painting is dry she will begin the many layers that make up the final piece. The finished work will usually have ten to twelve glazed layers of paint. Each of the layers is painted with Gamblin oils and Grumbacher Copal medium. Every layer is allowed to dry before the next is applied to keep the colors rich and vibrant. If oils are painted wet on wet they tend to sink into each other and blend on their own, often dulling the intended coloration. Late in the process Karen will refer to the photos that were taken and bring out some of the interesting details of the original scene. The larger paintings take several weeks to complete. Karen usually has four to six paintings in progress at a time in her studio.