Surrey Homes | SH35 | September 2017 | Education supplement inside

This page: In the master bedroom, carefully arranged collections
of treasures remind Karen of her travels and of loved people
and fabulous colour from late summer perennials. “I guess
we’ve done a lot to the house, but we’ve actually done more to
the garden,” she says. “There were just a couple of shrubs in it
when we first moved here.” There is a division of labour – of
sorts. “David does vegetables in the polytunnel. I do the rest.”
Back downstairs and we are in the room that was once the
kitchen, which has been turned into a sleek, but comfortable
sitting room and been given a monochrome makeover. The
simple, clean look makes the room look bigger and highlights
objects and art pieces in the room. My eye is immediately
drawn to a pair of Kate Schuricht’s stunning ceramics by the
wood burner. A large walnut cabinet in the corner of the room
contrasts with the monochrome. It was inherited from an aunt
“and actually this was the only place in the house where it
would go.” Just as well, because it looks – and fits – perfectly.
Memory and a response to the experiences of a place is a
key part of Karen’s paintings. Life is a series of experiences
that pass and are often lost. Memories shift and swirl in our
minds, settling for an instant and then moving on. Karen
catches these moments in her work, creating dreamy memoryscapes
of remembered views; the countryside, coast and
her own garden. “A lot of my work is memory based; I’m
trying to create an impression of the view, a remembrance
of the light and the landscape, the way the wind moved
so that the paintings take on a dreamy wistful feel.”
As the house has evolved and changed, so Karen’s art
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