Caren Hyde
Paintings

Artist statement

Painting for me is a way to consolidate feeling and memory with the experience of seeing the landscape and working with art materials. I choose the natural world as a vehicle for my images, as I believe it is something we are profoundly tied to and will instinctively respond to. Concerns regarding climate change and the ongoing senseless loss of our environment add context to my work.

My process for making paintings went through a change about 6 years ago, when I stopped using only brushes due to a worsening hand tremor. During this time, I developed a method of using printmaking equipment -- rollers, rags, squeegees, etc., as well as household items, to layer and pull away acrylic paint from the surface. There is a lot more chance involved in this process, and I have learned to welcome what may “just happen” as the image evolves. Limited, tonal palettes are often employed to establish a reflective mood  and a painting is finished when the image evokes an atmospheric air of mystery or nostalgia; a sense of a place felt and known on a deep level.

All of my paintings are made using acrylics on either canvas or hot-press paper.  Paintings are mounted on a cradled wood panel.