36 | September 2014 | élan magazine

INTUITION TAKES OVER | BY SALLY PFOUTZ

ARTIST KAREN WATSON

F rom her studio in Potomac Falls, Karen Watson creates works as part of an artistic endeavor that she has dubbed “Infusion Arts.” As the name

suggests, there’s an organic quality to her mixed media collages and paintings. “I am often inspired by the textures and colors of the natural world [as well as] the ridged bark of a tree or the rapidly changing colors of the sky at sunset,” she says.

Karen works on wood or canvas, using acrylic paint, modeling paste, tissue paper, patterned papers from her huge collection, maps and other printed material and corrugated cardboard. Some of her works start with a picture transfer or two. Her “niche collages” be-gin with cardboard or wooden boxes. After painting a canvas backdrop, she carefully attaches a rectangu-

lar receptacle, recessing it so that the opening is flush with the canvas. “Why have something two-dimensional when it could be three-dimensional?” she asks.

The inset box may hold found objects like an an-tique bottle, a rusted snowbird or shells–either real or handmade–or chess pieces from the Ukraine purchased through Etsy. These objects may be glued down, and some have a mica overlay; or they may be set in the niche but not affixed so that they can be switched out for oth-er keepsakes. “During the planning stage, I have all the right materials at hand,” she says, “but when I get started, intuition takes over and the planning goes out the window.”

Her niche piece “Shell & Sea Fan” features a fawn gray backdrop contrasted with a recessed box painted deep

Mementos

Karen Watson

élan magazine | September 2014 | 37

Above, clockwise from top left: “Pattern

Whimsy,” mixed media acrylic on canvas,

9” x 12”; “Shell & Sea Fan, ” mixed media

acrylic and found objects on wood, 16”

x 20”; and “Look Closely (you have them

too),” mixed media acrylic, found objects

and clay on wood, 16” x 20”

Opposite: “Carried Away,” mixed media

acrylic on wood, 18” x 24”

blue. Karen has filled the niche with a whorled seashell wearing a lacy coral veil, suggesting a graceful dancer. “It’s Your Move” combines an old photograph, antique glasses placed on a well-worn book and a white knight chess piece.

Karen got the idea for her chess triptychs while playing chess with her 10-year-old son Mitch. As a matter-of-fact, the In-fusion Arts venture has its origin with Mitch as well. The nesting phase of her pregnancy coincid-ed with the scrapbooking craze, which introduced her to the huge variety of decorative papers available. After Mitch was born, she couldn’t just have a photo album–she needed to create an environment for all the darling photographs.

Then she progressed to “memento portraits,” including “1st Time at the Beach,” which shows a delighted boy in a plaid sun-hat and a striped T-shirt, holding his sand bucket aloft. The collaged backdrop is a map, painted over with a yellow pinwheel sun and an orange and pink

sky that morphs into blues. A washed-out architectural drawing of a lighthouse features handwriting reminis-cent of a postcard and ink marks resembling footprints in the sand. Karen creates memento portraits by commis-

sion, incorporating her signature textured collage treatment. She recently commemorated a wed-ding by pairing a beautiful pho-tograph with a favorite poem.

The beach has inspired many of Karen’s mixed media paint-ings. “Coral Sunset” is sedate and peaceful, a true infusion of tran-quility. “On the Boardwalk,” with its bold blue and yellow hues and the suggestion of a tattoo here and there, is washed out in places just like a well-loved pair of surf shorts.

“Nirvana is the beach where treasures just wash up on shore,”

notes Karen. “I’m obviously inspired by the natural world and small items that have a history or tell a story like coins, stamps, old paper documents, keys and books, as well as dramatic architectural elements and interest-ing color combinations.”

38 | September 2014 | élan magazine

“Carried Away” positions a windmill against a gigan-tic sky and a low horizon. The pale gray mixed with yel-lows and pinks in the sky suggests a just-passed storm. The pale sea-green wash in “Pattern Whimsy” subtly re-veals the segment of a sewing pattern.

A native of Pennsylvania, Karen grew up in a rural set-ting. Both of her grandfathers were cabinetmakers, she says. She earned a B.S. in communications from Clarion University and is Business Management Director in the Legal Division at Freddie Mac. Karen lives in Potomac Falls with her husband Mark and their son Mitch.

Karen has taken classes on collage/assemblage with Jane Davies, Claudine Hellmuth and Stephanie Rubiano; painting/composition with Jane Davies, Cathy Taylor and Stephanie Rubiano; and book arts with Daniel Es-sig. She is a member of Leesburg’s Arts in the Village Co-op Gallery, where she was a featured artist in May. She has also exhibited at Tin Top Gallery in Winchester, North Gate Vineyard in Purcellville, Live an Artful Life Gallery in The Plains, Lost Creek Winery in Leesburg, and twice at the Torpedo Factory’s Target Gallery in Alexandria. Her article, “House of Portals,” was published

“Art is a way to get and stay in touch with yourself, [with] what is inspiring, honest and

true to you.”–Karen Watson

élan magazine | September 2014 | 39

eyes and I see something new that wasn’t there earlier. I don’t have a fully developed vision of a finished piece before I begin, and even when I plan the color scheme or design ahead of time, the planning isn’t able to evolve beyond a certain point without getting my hands dirty.”

Karen is one of 50 juried artists at this year’s MPAartfest, an arts festival sponsored by the McLean Project for the Arts and scheduled for October 5 in McLean Central Park.

Karen Watson | www.infusionarts.com

in Somerset Home magazine in 2009. Karen is Secretary of the Loudoun Arts Council Board of Directors.

“Art is a way to get and stay in touch with yourself, [with] what is inspiring, honest and true to you, rather than what someone else needs you to be,” says Karen. “As a child, I drew, worked with my grandpa in his wood-shop and made all kinds of little do-dads. The moment when the color, pattern and design all come together in a way that couldn’t have been anticipated, and the piece just hits a sweet spot and is larger than the sum of its parts, that’s the moment when tears briefly come to my

Above: “1st Time at the Beach,” mixed

media acrylic on canvas, 10” x 10”

Opposite, clockwise from top left: “It’s

Your Move,” mixed media acrylic and

found objects on wood, 16” x 20”; “Abstract

Earth,” mixed media acrylic on canvas, 24”

x 24”; “On the Boardwalk,” mixed media

acrylic on canvas 24” x 24”; and “Free to

Go,” mixed media acrylic on canvas,

24” x 24”