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Carin is widely known for her bold dynamic watercolours of our natural world. She also works with graphite and pastels and writes poetry.
Her work has been licensed for Christmas cards and has attracted international awards. She has a strong commissions-following and exhibits regularly. Born and raised in England, she is now living in Melbourne Australia and sells internationally. A love affair with watercolour Carin feels an innate calling to communicate nature - in all its forms - through the challenging medium of watercolour. Her painting style is varied and dynamic; sometimes realist, sometimes abstract or impressionistic; mirroring the unpredictable ever-changing flow of our natural world. Regardless of whether she is painting land, sky, sea, animals, insects, people or communities, her work captures the fluid form of nature at that precise moment. |
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Carin says “a cloud can be soft, full, dramatic, threatening or protective. The sea can be calming, restorative, dangerous, refreshing or a form of sustenance. I’m very lucky to be able to hold a moment in time, forever, through my work, and provide others with an opportunity to hold close to them a memory or experience that has personal meaning. Capturing the essence of this moment is the driving force of my creativity.”
Describing her painting as “a love affair with watercolour” Carin paints intuitively, sometimes using a mix of strong colours; at other times, creating a monochromatic image. Her paintings open a window to nature for others to experience. Her purpose is to express what she sees and bring pleasure and meaning to others through her work.
Carin likes to ‘paint big’. Her watercolour Magical Colours of Port Phillip Bay spans 91 by 31 inches. Other commissions have been similar sizes. She enjoys challenging the traditional perceptions of how people perceive watercolour artists, breaking new ground in size and the vibrant use of colour.
Since 2016 Carin has been a student of internationally recognised award-winning Australian watercolour artist David Taylor.
Carrying forward creative heritage
Carin says “Picking up my brushes is when I feel most real. It is who I am, it's in my blood”. She feels grateful to be able to tap into her inherent creativity which runs through her family, in her past and into its future - stretching from Norway to Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia.
On her mother’s side, there is Norwegian lineage to composer Edvard Grieg, her great aunt Ellen Grieg is a textile artist and her mother Lise a glass engraver. Her grandfather’s uncle was Maori-portrait artist Harry Linley Richardson, his father being Royal Academy lithographic artist George Richardson. On her father’s side, with Irish ancestors from County Down, there is a family story of a link to artist Sir John Lavery. Carin’s nephew Tom is continuing his own historical lineage through the pursuit of his musical talents.
Painting for social impact
In addition to providing others with pleasure, Carin raises community awareness of important subjects through her works. She says “Art has the ability to move, inspire and support. I believe I have a responsibility to help others through my paintings”.
For two years running, Carin produced an annual watercolour calendar, donating all profit. In the first year, the funds supported women and children experiencing domestic violence, and, the second year, refugees, new migrants and people seeking asylum. These projects raised AUD $14,000 for these causes.
Carin has also focused public awareness to marginalised Australian Indigenous soldiers in the First World War and traditional land management practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through her paintings.
Nature through life drawing
In addition to capturing nature through the medium of watercolour, Carin expresses the raw and powerful form of the human body through her minimalist pastel and graphite drawings. Quick, expressive and fresh, her intention is to convey with authenticity the ‘place’ humans have, equal to other aspects of nature.
Carin says “We are nature ourselves. To me, we have the same importance as a cloud, the sea or our trees. The style of my life drawings intentionally conveys our essence, rather than our detail”.
Poetry
Carin also connects with others through words, crafting her insights about happy and challenging subjects into her poems. She readily shares them through her website in the hope that they benefit others and help them to connect with their own experiences. Carin uses words in the same way in which she paints, with a sense of directness, urgency and punch. Sometimes they convey peace, such as her poem ‘Thank You Nature’, sometimes examples of trauma from her life’s circumstances and experiences.
She feels expressing life’s challenges through words is synonymous with visually conveying nature’s storms or the power of crashing waves through her paintings.
Describing her painting as “a love affair with watercolour” Carin paints intuitively, sometimes using a mix of strong colours; at other times, creating a monochromatic image. Her paintings open a window to nature for others to experience. Her purpose is to express what she sees and bring pleasure and meaning to others through her work.
Carin likes to ‘paint big’. Her watercolour Magical Colours of Port Phillip Bay spans 91 by 31 inches. Other commissions have been similar sizes. She enjoys challenging the traditional perceptions of how people perceive watercolour artists, breaking new ground in size and the vibrant use of colour.
Since 2016 Carin has been a student of internationally recognised award-winning Australian watercolour artist David Taylor.
Carrying forward creative heritage
Carin says “Picking up my brushes is when I feel most real. It is who I am, it's in my blood”. She feels grateful to be able to tap into her inherent creativity which runs through her family, in her past and into its future - stretching from Norway to Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia.
On her mother’s side, there is Norwegian lineage to composer Edvard Grieg, her great aunt Ellen Grieg is a textile artist and her mother Lise a glass engraver. Her grandfather’s uncle was Maori-portrait artist Harry Linley Richardson, his father being Royal Academy lithographic artist George Richardson. On her father’s side, with Irish ancestors from County Down, there is a family story of a link to artist Sir John Lavery. Carin’s nephew Tom is continuing his own historical lineage through the pursuit of his musical talents.
Painting for social impact
In addition to providing others with pleasure, Carin raises community awareness of important subjects through her works. She says “Art has the ability to move, inspire and support. I believe I have a responsibility to help others through my paintings”.
For two years running, Carin produced an annual watercolour calendar, donating all profit. In the first year, the funds supported women and children experiencing domestic violence, and, the second year, refugees, new migrants and people seeking asylum. These projects raised AUD $14,000 for these causes.
Carin has also focused public awareness to marginalised Australian Indigenous soldiers in the First World War and traditional land management practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through her paintings.
Nature through life drawing
In addition to capturing nature through the medium of watercolour, Carin expresses the raw and powerful form of the human body through her minimalist pastel and graphite drawings. Quick, expressive and fresh, her intention is to convey with authenticity the ‘place’ humans have, equal to other aspects of nature.
Carin says “We are nature ourselves. To me, we have the same importance as a cloud, the sea or our trees. The style of my life drawings intentionally conveys our essence, rather than our detail”.
Poetry
Carin also connects with others through words, crafting her insights about happy and challenging subjects into her poems. She readily shares them through her website in the hope that they benefit others and help them to connect with their own experiences. Carin uses words in the same way in which she paints, with a sense of directness, urgency and punch. Sometimes they convey peace, such as her poem ‘Thank You Nature’, sometimes examples of trauma from her life’s circumstances and experiences.
She feels expressing life’s challenges through words is synonymous with visually conveying nature’s storms or the power of crashing waves through her paintings.
