Painting the perceptual landscapes of New England from direct observation and memory.
My circular paintings explore my visionary approach to human perception—how we see, experience, and pay attention. Painting from life is not replication but relationship: a conversation between the artist and the living world. In an age of artificial vision, this work insists that seeing is still a profoundly human act. I paint entirely by eye, responding to the world’s shifting, frenetic energy without mechanical devices. For me, painting is an act of being with, of organizing and honoring the complexity that surrounds me.
~ Karen Bartone
My circular paintings explore my visionary approach to human perception—how we see, experience, and pay attention. Painting from life is not replication but relationship: a conversation between the artist and the living world. In an age of artificial vision, this work insists that seeing is still a profoundly human act. I paint entirely by eye, responding to the world’s shifting, frenetic energy without mechanical devices. For me, painting is an act of being with, of organizing and honoring the complexity that surrounds me.
~ Karen Bartone
Pondering How We See the Cosmos at Ice Pond, Monhegan Island, 30" oil, circular panel, July 2025
From my home pond to Ice Pond on Monhegan, the landscapes reveal that everyday spaces can open onto the infinite.
~ Karen Bartone
On July 21, 2025 — twenty years after my father’s passing — I painted this 30" circular panel at Ice Pond on Monhegan Island. Created in his honor and in reflection of the path his life opened for me as a painter, the work explores how memory and light converge in a particular place. This painting was made possible through a Connecticut State Colleges and Universities research grant from the university where I have taught studio art for over fifteen years.
From my home pond to Ice Pond on Monhegan, the landscapes reveal that everyday spaces can open onto the infinite.
~ Karen Bartone
On July 21, 2025 — twenty years after my father’s passing — I painted this 30" circular panel at Ice Pond on Monhegan Island. Created in his honor and in reflection of the path his life opened for me as a painter, the work explores how memory and light converge in a particular place. This painting was made possible through a Connecticut State Colleges and Universities research grant from the university where I have taught studio art for over fifteen years.