Contemporary Sumi-e Paintings - Karen Dedrickson

Contemporary Sumi-e paintings by Karen Dedrickson circa 2010 - 2012

Black bird 7" x 7" others 16" x 20 1/2"

I purchased these paintings recently. The minute I saw them I fell in love with them. It reminded me of my Urushibara Mokuchu horse paintings.

Two of the paintings are professionally framed and two are not. The two that are not professionaly framed, I questioned whether they were original works. Also 1 painting someone wrote a 10 in ink in the upper corner. I contacted the artist and she verified they are originals.

Turns out there was an interesting story to these paintings. Karen was intrigued that someone had bought so many of her paintings. The lady I bought them from, her brother had recently passed away. Turns out her brother worked with the artist's husband as an optometrist. And the brother had come to the artist house and bought them directly from her.

Sumi-e is a form of East Asian brush painting that has been practiced for well over a thousand years; it strives to distill the essence of an object or scene.
It is a technically demanding art form requiring skill, concentration, and years of training; once a stroke is painted, it cannot be changed or erased.

Karen Dedrickson. - The artist pushes the traditional boundaries of sumi-e ink painting in her abstracted paintings of birds. “I am intrigued with painting emotions as movement,” says Karen Dedrickson. “I use the simplest of materials: brush, ink, water, and handmade paper. As I work, it is a lively balance between being an observer and a partner with my humble materials.”