The Beginning…

I dedicate this blog post to the woman who inspired me and made me believe that I had an untapped talent in abstract art. About a year ago, I was invited by a friend, Sabine Steinbrecher, to a painting class hosted by her mother. I had been to Karola Steinbrecher’s studio before and purchased a painting that I love – a huge acrylic of a California Poppy (at left). When the opportunity came up to do a class, I thought it sounded like fun and eagerly signed up. Yvette, Cynthia and I purchased our art supplies – acrylics and brushes and headed to her studio. Her studio is located north of Toronto and is surrounded by beautiful and inspiring gardens.

FROM HER WEBSITE
Karola Steinbrecher was born in Germany and now resides north of Toronto. She has been painting for over forty years and is primarily self-taught. She has exhibited in both group and solo shows, won awards for her work, and is a member of artist leagues both in Florida and Ontario.

Karola has a penchant for warm colours and can be detail oriented or abstract in her selection of subjects often presenting a familiar subject with unusual backgrounds. Her use of red hues are most obvious in her present work and she has recently moved to more abstract subject matter. Her pieces are lively and expressive, delivered in very intense colors, on simplified rich backgrounds. The work is very modern and contemporary and illustrates her versatility, particularly in her works of nature.

Karola has shown frequently in galleries, shows and exhibitions in North America and her art has been purchased to private and corporate collections in Canada, the U.S.A and Europe.

When we got there, I was disappointed to learn we were going to be doing abstract art – it had honestly never held any appeal and I so loved her flower paintings. Jumping into the moment, I worked hard to be open minded and found…THAT I LOVED IT! It was more intimidating and challenging than I thought it would be but provided an opportunity to be very free with form and line – it looked like it would be easy but as actually quite a challenge to get the balance and colours to the point that they worked.

Today I am headed down to the Town Hall Meeting of the Artist’s Network – I am not sure what to expect – I hope the meeting provides a bit of guidance as to how to prepare for the show. I am painting tomorrow and really looking forward to it.