Studio Update: Connecting the Threads of My Past and Present
Something very beautiful has been happening in my studio lately, and I wanted to share a look behind the scenes at where my work is heading.
For a long time, I felt like my creative life was split into distinct chapters. Many of you know my background—holding a First Class Honours in Fashion Design and Textiles, spending over a decade working in the industry, and running a bespoke couture business in the UK before making the leap and immigrating to Australia.
When I decided to transition to painting full-time, it felt like a brand new chapter. But lately everything is converging, and my current work is bringing all of those life experiences together.
I’ve started noticing a re-emergence of stitching and fabrication organically finding its way into my painting practice. My process has become an interplay between the unconscious mark and the deliberate layout of collaged fabrics.
I am specifically working with my used brush cloths, alongside stained remnants from past trials and studio experimentation. By bringing these work-used reclaimed textiles onto the canvas, I want to invite a deeper reflection on the precious, finite resources of our world and the value of what we choose to preserve.
My latest work is a true culmination of this entire journey.
As you can see in these details, this piece is highlighted with Japanese Sashiko thread stitched directly into the canvas. It is a quiet, deliberate nod to my couture roots and the years spent working intimately with tactile materials.
It feels incredibly grounding to see all the different eras of my life finally talking to each other on the canvas. Merging the fluid world of intuitive paint with the structured, tactile world of fabrication has opened up a whole new direction for my practice, and I’m so excited to see where it leads next.
Thank you, as always, for following along with my journey and allowing me to share these evolutions with you.
Latest press release and news from the studio…
I am excited to share that my latest collection of ceramics and smaller artworks are available for sale on Gertrude Street Fitzroy at Bei Oggetti.
Bei Oggetti is at 122A Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, open WED – SAT 10 till 5. I hope you are able to pop in and see the collection on this fabulous destination shopping strip.
Natural Earth Pigment, watercolour, acrylic and wax on reclaimed board.
Latest Press Release…
Melbourne Artist Karen Parsons’ paintings and ceramics explore nature’s balance, strength and fragility.
Using reclaimed wood and natural earth pigments to create ceramic glazes and paint, she honours the earth’s finite resources. The patina of life of the reclaimed materials is preserved within each finished piece.
Her work evokes the flow of nature and our responsibility to nurture the ecosystem we belong to.
Natural Earth Pigment, watercolour, acrylic and wax on reclaimed board.
Femme Terre… a feminine energy
Natural earth pigment, oil and wax on canvas.
When I’m in a wild, natural place—like the ocean or the forest—something shifts inside me. The earth, like a mother, has this way of grounding me, reminding me of something deep and essential. I can feel her energy, steady and alive, pulling me back into balance and making me feel whole again.
Through this series, I want to share that feeling—the timeless connection we have with the earth. Femme Terre is about that feminine strength and endless comfort that nature offers as we let ourselves truly connect with her.
Natural earth pigment, oil and wax on canvas.
1. 2. 3. Natural earth pigment, watercolour and acrylic on paper.
Everywhere I look…
Readymade: rust oxide on metal skip, trees and power lines
Everywhere I look lately, I see readymade art. It’s almost as if the world can’t help but produce beauty in collaboration with human interaction. Take for instance the first image above; I just happened to notice this on my walk, the bird-like rust oxide marks magically transform and connect to the trees.
The second image was created unconsciously by wiping off my brush during a painting session in the studio. This byproduct painting is then elevated to become the focus of New work, see below.
earth pigment and acrylic on cotton
Thin Places…
There is an idea that comes from ancient Celtic spirituality, that there exists what are called “thin places.” It is believed that there is only a veil that separates this world and the sacred world, and at certain times, this veil is thin enough for us to catch a glimpse of what is to come in the eternal world.
Through ceramics and painting, my new work explores the spaces beyond the veil; places that are seemingly separate from our everyday experience; subterranean landscapes of the Earth, internal emotional landscapes of the mind, a deep knowing. Perhaps invisible to the human eye, but tangible and real in the mind’s eye.
Underneath the ground and all around us on a macro and micro level life combines; there is no separation, only oneness, matter, energy, life.
I’m taking a more intuitive path…
“When I go to certain types of landscape I do find ways of moving with it and trying to become in tune with it. In fact, I say that’s why I make paintings- because they are a way of revealing the underlying shapes and rhythms. Art can be about a search for deeper underlying patterns.” John Wolseley
Lately, I feel drawn to a more abstract expression in my painting, to follow a truer intuitive path that is less representational. It’s never been my intention to mirror the landscape but to listen and transcribe the connection and sense of belonging I feel to the natural world onto the canvas. Now I want to go deeper into this response…
I’m using natural earth pigments to create paint, preparing and assembling reclaimed wood and other found elements. These processes are allowing me to experience time in a more organic way, it’s a beautiful thing to let go and see what happens…
The Landscape Speaks to Us…
“Everything is linked, the body and the mind; mankind and the world; the earth and the sky.” Charlotte Perriand
On a recent painting trip, I found Dja Dja Wurrung Country, Chewton near Castlemaine to be an extremely evocative landscape. I was compelled to respond to the mining history of this particular area and how the landscape has been shaped by it.
I felt led to interact with the landscape directly, allowing my paint, (created from natural earth pigments) to roam down the hillside, using gravity and also the shape of the earth; the rock and strata both exposed and covered forming undulations for the medium to ‘ride’ on.
Interactive landscape drawings were formed; an imprint of the landscape itself.
Remembered Landscape
An ode to Clarice Beckett, the Beaumaris seaside where I live and other evocative landscapes I’ve been fortunate to visit and paint en plein air. A Garden-Studio Gallery Exhibition experience at the conclusion of 2022.
“It seems to me that the landscape is always ready to wrap its arms around me, a source of solace as I immerse my being and respond through painting; a collaboration with the natural world in all its beauty.”
A New Way of Seeing
There has been an exciting development that is powerfully impacting my work as an artist. The landscape is truly becoming part of my work as I am discovering how to ethically gather and process natural pigments from the earth. The luminosity of colour is radically changing my palette. The ancient techniques are deepening my connection to the landscape as I paint.
New possibilities are infinite, the way forward, a captivating mystery as the landscape reveals herself to me. I would love to invite you along to see how things develop, so make sure you’re subscribed to my website.
