May in Review
By Elizabeth Christie
May 21st Karrie Evenson came to the Nadine Baum Studio to demonstrate her skills in painting
with acrylic. Karrie’s canvases for the demonstration were painted yellowish-green, and one was a
line drawing of a stylish girl holding an umbrella in one hand and a handbag in the other. Several
paintings of these whimsical women were drawn without facial features, but with birds on their
shoulders and were painted with bright, vibrant colors.
Karrie has been interested in painting since she was a child. Still life was her forte then and her
first love was the artist Bob Roth. Painting the still lifes and landscapes was a hobby to her, but it
helped to improve her drawing. Karrie got married and gave birth to three children. Her youngest is
now two years old and not well. Due to her daughter’s illness, she decided to take lessons with Gail
Stoops and learned to paint in a more abstract style. This helped her to apply paint with freer strokes,
and working in this manner, she is able to find her own world.
Karrie draws the subject with charcoal and uses tissue at times to erase some of the
unnecessary charcoal. She then sprays it and lets it dry for a few minutes. Then she continues to
paint the canvas with acrylic paint, leaving details for the very last. The background was painted with
orange paint, creating the image of a building. As she worked on the canvas, blue was painted
around the figure. She sometimes used the end point of her brush to create some texture. The
painting is allowed to dry, after which more layers of paint, including details in the figure’s dress, etc.,
are applied. Karrie uses a miser palette system that helps to keep the acrylic paint wet for a longer
period of time. You can purchase this item at Jerry’s Artarama.
Karrie does not want to think when she paints; she needs to feel free and happy when she is
painting. She wants to have fun, while giving her patrons the same opportunity to enjoy her art and
method of painting. Karrie’s email address is karrieevenson@art.com. You can see Karrie’s
paintings at the Art Emporium in Fayetteville, Eureka Springs Fine Art in Eureka Springs, and Poor
Richards Fine Arts in Rogers. I want to thank Karrie and her lovely daughter who was her assistant
for providing us with a very interesting demonstration. She has a very relaxed manner of working,
which I found to be a charming experience, just sitting there watching her paint.
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