The Wonderful Imagined Animals of Karine Swenson

Happy Tuesday!

I want to introduce you to my friend Karine’s series of imagined animal paintings. They are huge and FANTASTIC!

“Bacon.” Oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches (sold)
“Gator.” Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches (sold)
“Mama-roo.” Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches (sold)
“Polar Bear.” Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches
“Seated Giraffe.” Oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches.

About this series, Karine writes:

Why do we think things that are cute or fun are only for children? Why is it that only children get to have fun? People see something cute and they say, “Oh! That would be so perfect for a child’s room!” Or “You should illustrate a childrens’ book!” As it turns out, I didn’t paint these little toys for children. I painted them for adults. I painted them so I could explore how light and shadow look. I painted them because I loved looking at them and I thought others would too. I think adults need art like this a lot more than kids do. Life gets so serious when you grow up. These paintings have a combination of cute and serious combined. If you look closely at them, you will see that yes, they are cute, but they are also much more than that.

These paintings are based on tiny collectible Japanese erasers made by a company called Iwako. When I found out that toys are often copyrighted, I wrote a letter to the CEO of the company to get permission to create paintings of them. I was granted permission to paint them, with a promise that I would not sell prints or reproductions of the paintings. These are special works of art for that reason.

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SUMMER ART CAMP ONLINE!
Karine is one of eight teachers featured in this year’s “Summer Art Camp,” where she will paint a small monster with you, with a special emphasis on values. Camp begins Monday, July 28th and includes THREE weeks of fun classes! Sign up today and save $20!

From the 2014 Online Summer Art Camp Class, “Paint a Monster” with Karine Swenson.