Still life painter Karen O’Neil writes “different types of light affect color in different ways. My visual perceptions involving these various light and color relationships are the foundation of my work”.

O’Neil uses ordinary objects for her subject matter; kitchen pots, glassware, fruits and vegetables but paired with daylight or a spotlight, the possibilities for composition become endless. She is drawn to colored glass and shiny surfaces because of their reflective nature and the interest this brings to the composition. Beginning with multiple objects on her table, the artist arranges, rearranges, takes objects out, adds in others and adjusts lighting until she finds an interesting path of light through a given set of objects, and sees patterns and interest in intersecting and overlapping shapes and colors. Once satisfied with the set up, O’Neil begins the challenge of documenting what she perceives is happening in the arrangement of objects.

Karen O’Neil received her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and went on to study with Henry Hensche at The Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown Massachusetts. She is a sought after teacher and regularly leads both in person and online workshops at The Art Students League of New York and the Woodstock School of Art. Her work is held in both private and corporate collections nationally.

For more information on “The Color of Light – Recent Still Life Paintings”, a solo exhibition featuring Karen O’Neil, visit www.edgewatergallery.com, call the gallery at 802-989-7419 or email us at [email protected].

To view Karen O’Neil’s available work, click here.

“How does light affect color? Different types of light affect color in different ways.

My visual perceptions involving these various light and color relationships are the foundation of my work.

Ordinary everyday objects, combined with daylight or a good spotlight can provide endless possibilities for exciting compositions. The process of setting up a still life for me has always been a challenge. I have a still life table that is usually messy, overcrowded and unruly with objects. Finding my painting – making order from the chaos is critical. I look for ways that light will travel around and through things, making patterns where colors intersect and overlap. It is these moments of overlap, or connection in a still life that spark my desire to try to document in paint, my perception of what is happening with the colors. Unexpected things always happen. What is actually there is stranger and more beautiful than what I think should be there.”

As Giorgio Morandi said, “nothing is more abstract than reality.”