The Artist: Carolyn Counnas

I found my artistic inspiration from trekking around the world. Having lived in India, Africa, Japan and Europe, various ethnic influences are evident in my early work, which captures the feeling, energy and emotion of a place rather than a particular subject.

Now that I have settled in Thousand Oaks, California with its Mediterranean climate, I find enormous inspiration from my natural surroundings. Here the seasonal changes are more subtle than in my native Maryland, but the varied and vivid color palette works its magic.

When I'm not painting, I'm driving race cars.

At this stage of my career, color is my primary spark, more so than form or subject matter. You might say that subject matter is an excuse to use color.

My current oil paintings feature lots of warm reds. Using a method called color orchestration, I combine many variations of a single color to create rich, luminous effects. Grasses -- their form and ever changing essence -- are also reflected in my current work.

On this site you will find examples of my paintings, monoprints and giclees.

With Monoprints, my focus is a balance of texture and color. I choose to do mostly collagraphs, in which, I sculpt the textural images onto the surface of the plate, developing one composition.

The color application of inks, multiple plates, chinecolle papers and oil pastels creates a second. This technique keeps the eye moving as it weaves between the two.

I developed my printing techniques at Graphic Workshop Santa Fe, Open Press in Denver, and Studio-J in California. I regard Monoprints as printmaking for painters. The process is very technical, but yields to experimentation and spontaneous inspiration.

My husband George handles the technical side of things, producing high-resolution scans of original works which he uses to create high-quality giclee prints.

I invite you to explore the site and if you have any questions or requests, contact me by phone or email.