Karen Tamminga-Paton
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  • About
  • Gallery
    • Recent Works
  • Shop
    • Available Originals
    • Reproductions
    • Retail Locations
  • Collaborations
  • Contact
For art cards and prints, please click directly on to "SHOP" on the menu bar.

Available Original Art for Purchase

Arranged in alphabetical order  (Note:  NW = current work from the last several years; EW = early work)
Picture
ARPEGGIOS WITH FLOWERS  (EW/NW)
30 x 60, acrylic and collaged wallpaper & table napkins on weathered wooden framed canvas
$3600
This reworked piece is a dialogue between cultures, the shape of our homes, and the stuff it takes to forgive, to learn, and to remain in the conversation.  It reflects my longing for households of love that are wise, enduring and brave.  


Picture
At the Take Out  (EW)
24x48, acrylic and collaged paper on wood framed canvas
$2300
 
Three beached canoes at the end of an Algonquin excursion with our daughters and some friends.  There's something so raw, so humbling and good about paddling through heavy rain, cold and wind.  Perspective is offered.  Well-being is a gift you do not take for granted.  

Picture
Beautiful Blinders  (NW)
18x24, acrylic, wall paper and 3D paper flowers on black framed canvas
$875

Whether considering our personal lives, our family ways, or our religious and political cultures, we see through lenses.  We see in particular ways, shaped by our beliefs and life experiences.  I believe, more now in our current political climate than ever, that our first work is to acknowledge these blinders.  To think we see without them is to be arrogant and, ultimately, small.  But it is hard to do!  Often we don’t even know what we don’t know.  Sometimes we must remove them; sometimes they provide blessed reprieve from a clamorous world...but at the very least, let us admit we have them.   
​


Picture
Beauty That Breaks the Heart   (NW)
24x18, acrylic and collaged papers on birch panel
$875
​

There are hard things that break our hearts, like loss and pain.  But there is also the kind that beauty inflicts upon our soul, where we are taken aback by what our eyes behold and find it almost too much.  The wild balsamroot does this to me every spring.  In my part of the world in the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, balsamroot blooms take over grassy slopes in a riot of brilliant yellows.  
A few words from a Mary Oliver poem drip out along the base of this painting:  " ...I tell you this / to break your heart / by which I mean, only / that it break open and never close again / to the rest of the world."
Picture
​#beloved  (NW)
120x144, acrylic on 3 birch panels; includes separate frame
$10,000

​This 3-panelled large work is intended for a large, public space and invites the viewer to settle in its centre, held and loved.  Read more about this installation on the Collaborations ​page.
Picture
Contend  (EW)
72x36, acrylic and gold leaf on wood framed canvas
​$3800


​Contend(ken tend’): v.  1 fight; struggle.  2 take part in a contest; compete.  3 argue; dispute.  4 declare to be a fact; maintain as true.  
L Contendere < com- (intensive) + tendere (stretch)  Syn: cope, wrestle, battle; emphasizing the idea of trying hard and struggling against opposition.  

Let us contend for what is right and what is in front of us to do...and perhaps some of heaven will be pulled down into our here and now.
Picture
Count Your Blessings  (NW)
24x24  acrylic and mixed media on gallery-wrap canvas
NFS

...because why wouldn't we want to make a good practice of counting the many ways we have been blessed?  
Picture
Deluge  (NW)
60x24, acrylic on birch panel 
$2100


​These two self-portraits (see image below) explore the range of our human condition:  times we are overwhelmed and feel certain we will drown, and the parched wilderness where we lose our bearings.
When words fail to capture the fleeting glimpses of insight – the insight that gives meaning to our days, painting does this for me. Sometimes it is a seizing, but mostly it is gentle, this holding of story and truth.  Like the bird that alights impossibly upon my head, despite the torrential downpour, or flies just beyond the periphery of my vision so that I wonder, did I really see something?
These birds are my metaphor for 
witness.  I will remember.  I will mine for the gold of grace and truth in these moments, and there, build my alter. 
 
Picture
Drought  (NW)
60x24, acrylic on birch panel
$2100


​These two self-portraits (see above image) explore the range of our human condition:  times we are overwhelmed and feel certain we will drown, and the parched wilderness where we lose our bearings.
When words fail to capture the fleeting glimpses of insight – the insight that gives meaning to our days, painting does this for me. Sometimes it is a seizing, but mostly it is gentle, this holding of story and truth.  Like the bird that alights impossibly upon my head, despite the torrential downpour, or flies just beyond the periphery of my vision so that I wonder, did I really see something?
These birds are my metaphor for 
witness.  I will remember.  I will mine for the gold of grace and truth in these moments, and there, build my alter. ​
Picture
Faith Discusses Global Affairs with Peace  (EW)
36x24, acrylic on wood framed canvas
​Just Sold to a wonderful person!

​What if the great virtues were embodied in regular, everyday folks?  I imagine them to look something like these lovely ladies.  And I imagine them walking through this life in a way that brings goodness, even when news, politics, health and economy throw us into turmoil.  We then look to these ones who exude the virtues.  They make us better individuals and I thank them.  
​ 
Picture
Goodness, Gentleness and Patience Rest on Main
(EW)  24x36, acrylic on wood framed canvas
$1700  (Currently at the Crowsnest Pass Public Art Gallery)

​What if the great virtues were embodied in regular, everyday folks?  I imagine them to look something like these lovely elders.  (Can you tell this was painted pre-pandemic?) And I imagine them walking through this life in a way that brings goodness, even when news, politics, health and economy throw us into turmoil.  We then look to these ones who exude the virtues.  They make us better and I thank them.  
Picture
Gratitude  (EW)
30x24, acrylic and mixed media on regular canvas
$500


​P
ainted during my early years as a tired, confused and overwhelmed mom, this piece is one part exuberant love, one part sacrifice, a soft belly and a good dose of throw-my-hands-up-because-I-don't-know-what-the-hell-I'm-doing!  I survived those years. We tend to look back and wonder about how it was possible.  Raising daughters made me more compassionate, tolerant, creative, magnanimous....  Every part of motherhood, the good, the bad, the ugly, is worth it.  
Worth it!
Picture
I Hear With an Accent  (NW) 
48x36, mixed media on birch panel
​$3450

​The four paper squares collaged on the left-hand feature my dad's handwriting. Written in Frisian, his native tongue, the words blur from the paper, through the ancient tree and into calligraphic marks off the picture plane - a tribute to my family heritage and an examination of how it has influenced my worldviews.  COVID has offered me room and a growing desire to understand the things I have inherited:  genetics, beliefs, narratives.  What do I embrace because it is good, what do I let go of,  what needs further exploration?
Picture
Incarnation  (NW)
​36x48, acrylic and gold leaf on wood framed birch panel
​$3450 

​Embodiment.  To appear in living flesh, fully present.  As my imperfect Christian faith evolves, falters and surges, I find myself returning to the incarnation of Jesus.  God in human form - this tradition's foundational canon.  The calliope hummingbird alights, a momentary jewel, suggesting poetic mystery beyond my grasp.

Picture
In Good Company  (EW) 
18x24, acrylic on black framed canvas
$865


​In recent years my family journeyed through the unchartered waters of cancer and death. We don’t journey alone, however, but find ourselves in the company of those who keep us afloat through their expressions of love and kindness.  A small, vulnerable vessel buoyed up by the greater story of community. 


Picture

In The Field Of Indecision  (NW)
50x24, diptych, acrylic on canvas
$2400

Certainty is a myth.  Yet, how seductive it can be!  It suggests insight and wisdom, assurity of beliefs and how I show up in the world.  Uncertainty on the other hand can be deeply uncomfortable, awkward and anxiety-producing, especially when alongside those who profess to know what they are about.  At the time the pandemic hit my part of the world, I had just retired from a long teaching career.  I stepped into a studio, and a relatively isolated existence.  A lot of what I knew - or thought I knew - started to unravel.  Big questions about faith, colonialism, heritage propelled me to do a lot of deep diving in water that was not as clear as I would have liked it to be.  
A dear Blackfoot elder shared with me about the presence of shadows.  Pay attention, he said, to the gift of your shadow that comes from natoosi, brother sun, for it has things to teach you.  You are never alone; your shadow will accompany you.  Your shadow is quite comical, and shifts as the sun journeys across the sky.  All things have a shadow - you, your more-than-human relatives - cast their own unique shadow.  They merge and undulate with the shapes on the ground.  
....So, here I am.  big-footed, tiny-headed, see-through and elongated.  Learning.  Uncertain.  It is a large field.
Picture
Inner Compass  (NW)
14x18, acrylic on black framed canvas
$630 
​
​Leaned into the
 pummeling elements with head down, we can imagine this seasoned old mare will go where she knows she must go.  Her inner compass is strong; she can trust it will bring her home.  


Picture
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 1 & No. 2  ~ March & April 2020 (NW)
12x12 acrylic and collaged paper on gallery-wrap canvas
$360 each/$650 for the set

As we move through our days, let us bring flowers, let us bring beauty.  
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 10  ~ December 2020 (NW)
16x20, acrylic, collaged wallpaper on wood framed birch panel
$800
​

As we move through our days, let us bring flowers...
Picture
 Journey With Flowers No. 16  ~ June 2021 (NW)
8x8, acrylic, collaged table napkin and wallpaper on birch panel
$160 (Available at the www.crowsnestpasspublicartgallery.com/)
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 17 ~ July 2021 (NW)
14x14, acrylic, collaged wallpaper on birch panel
$490  
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 20 - October 2021  (NW)
10 x 20, acrylic with collaged wallpaper on gallery wrap canvas
$500  (currently at the www.fernieartsco-op.com/)
Another month of Covid19, another boat with flowers.
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 21 - November, 2021  (NW)
16x16, acrylic and table napkin on gallery wrap canvas
$640
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 22 - December, 2021  (NW)
24x12, acrylic, wallpaper & Japanese papers on birch panel
$720  (currently at the www.fernieartsco-op.com
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 23 - January, 2022  (NW)
18x14, acrylic, wall paper & handmade paper on birch panel
$675   (currently at the www.fernieartsco-op.com/)
Picture
Journey With Flowers No. 24 (February)  (NW)
​9x12, acrylic, vintage wallpaper, collaged papers on framed canvas

$350   (currently at the www.fernieartsco-op.com/)

A small boat journeying with flowers:  one for every month of the pandemic.
Picture
Lifeline   (NW)
acrylic on 17' Grumman canoe 
$9000 


​An installation piece that will create conversation, this painting highlights the delicate yet tenacious nature of enduring relationships and community.  Read more about it on the Collaboration page.  
Picture
Practice Resurrection  (NW)
48x24, acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas
$2300

An image inspired by Wendell Berry's poem, Manifesto:  the Mad Farmer Liberation Front.
(a few selected lines below)
....ask the questions that have no answers
invest in the millennium
plant sequoias
say that your main crop is the forest you did not plant
that you will not live to harvest...
put your faith in the 2" of humus that will build under trees every thousand years...
practice resurrection
.

The boat, a journey, bears a thriving seedling which clutches to a golden cord holding it heavenward.  We bear children.  We grow gardens.  We bake bread, paint images and choreograph movement into dance.  We rise, and then rise again from sorrow, from ashes and sickness, from loss and pain, even from the rhythms of sleep, is to practice the wonder of resurrection.  We could succumb.  We could refuse to get up.  But somehow, we do.  Let us remain in wonder at this truth. 
 
Picture
Spring Prayer  (EW)
24x12, acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas 
​$575  

​There were 5 snowstorms that April.  I love winter, but I began wearing a flowered scarf just to remind myself that spring would come, that crocuses were forming under all that snow.  On a whim, I tied this scarf between the trees and stood back to enjoy the new view.  I stared at it for a long time, a feast of promise and colour in what seemed a perpetually grey world.  It offered a metaphor.  During darker times, these moments open my thoughts to consider what is beyond my immediate view.  
Picture
Sound Within A Sound  (EW)
30x24, acrylic on wood framed canvas
$500
 

​Is there anything more visceral and compelling than a drum beat?  It calls us, pulls us in, moves our body and our spirit!  This particular image was from a photo I took at a gathering of artists, musicians and creatives.  We pooled our diverse expressions of worship there in the setting of a beautiful chapel deep in the Rocky Mountains.  A  sacred experience that I wanted to hold in my memory.  
Picture
The Teacher  (EW)
24x30, acrylic, papers on black framed canvas
$1440

My hands. The square palms of my father and the deft movements of my mother. I was an art teacher for over 30 years. They have rarely been smooth or paint-free.  Like water pouring through my fingers, hand-written notes from students, parents, student-teachers and colleagues, cascade into a bowl-like form, but fail to hold them at all. They are the good, the bad, the funny, and the ones that made me cry - a summary of my life as a teacher. A tribute to this beautiful, messy, and most wonderful profession that has so profoundly shaped who I am.
Picture
This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land  (EW)
60x48, acrylic on wood framed canvas
$4320


​Wolves that travel alone have a story to tell. It is not their normal social behaviour. This particular wolf is on a journey, strong west winds at his back as though nudging his steps forward. The mountain range is the Continental Divide separating British Columbia from Alberta, delineating water’s flow east from west.  This wolf traverses this great geological phenomenon with ease.  Oblivious to political boundaries, these long distance movements along the spine of our beautiful continent establish and maintain new groupings, enriching the gene pool.

Picture
Three Arrows  (EW)
40x30, acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas 
$1500


​At different points along the parenting journey, you reach crossroads where you must re-define and re-prioritize aspects of family life.  You clean house, so to speak, so that things function as they should for the new season in which you find yourselves. These times ask you to step away from activity so you can hear your quieter thoughts and, more importantly, hear your children’s hearts.  This piece was painted during one of those times. It took the deliberate, thoughtful process of naming an image in paint to gain insight, to slow down, to listen, and take stock … and in so doing, to remember that the most important opportunities are right here in the most ordinary and familiar of places - at home.     
 

Picture
Three Streams, One Boat  (NW)
22x30, acrylic wash and charcoal on Stonehenge paper, unframed
$350

​The Christian faith and its long historic sweep... As I consider what I inherited, what I've explored, I see more broadly and with a much looser, questioning hold than I could when I was younger.  This simple drawing was my meditation about the intersectionality and tension of ancient and modern, orthodoxy and upstart, with its many variations and expressions of those who gather to celebrate faith.  
Picture
Treehugger:  White Oak With Nel  (NW)
48x36, acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas, wooden frame
$3,450
​
There is a something about the sentient quality of trees that humanity is waking up to.  Ancient red cedar, sturdy limber pine, majestic white oak... trees have always caught the collective imagination, and now more than ever. 
Nel is a member of our community who champions every living creature, furred, feathered, or scaled.  Flanked by manicured yards, Nel's small plot is alive with life as she carefully attends to habitat and nurtures biodiversity.  She is a student of Nature and is as curious a person as I have ever had the privilege to know.  It seemed fitting to have her be my model to accompany this white oak portrait.  
Picture
Treehugger:  Black Cottonwood With Lee-Anne (NW) 
64x64, acrylic on 5 separate wood-framed canvases 
(note:  this image has been digitally "stitched" together for easier viewing)
$6000
​
Just west of Fernie, British Columbia, are some of the oldest known cottonwoods in the world.  They are protected by the Nature Conservatory of Canada.  Lee-Anne is one of those individuals whose heart for wilderness has led her to advocate with both intelligence and passion for sustainable use of our wild spaces.  She also happens to be one of my dearest friends in the world. 
Picture
Tumbling Bear  (EW)
60x48, acrylic, typographical maps on wood framed canvas 
$4320

​Topo maps shatter as a blue grizzly tumbles through space.  What does it look like when our wilderness landscapes are fractured beyond recognition?  At what point is it irreparable?
We are well aware of the threats, and no one can deny our need for natural resources. These mounting pressures require that we step up intentional strategies so that our beloved planet does not suffocate in our embrace.  Knowing movement patterns of various species across landscapes, identifying crucial wild spaces that connect animal and plant populations, and the protection of natural areas, are progressing up the Priority Ladder - at least we hope so.  There is hope that the tumbling grizzlies of this world will land on
their feet.


​If you are interested in purchasing an original, please contact me:

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 Copyright 2022 Karen Tamminga-Paton.    Crowsnest Pass, Alberta  
All rights reserved including the right to reproduce and sell images based on her art.