The Quiet Wild
THE QUIET WILD
For those who notice the small things.
A flash of blue beside the river. A tiny bird watching from the shadows. The flick of a fantail disappearing through the trees.
The wild doesn't always announce itself.
Sometimes you have to notice it.
Perhaps you're one of the people who notices.
You hear the tūī before you see it.
You stop when a fantail comes impossibly close.
You know the ridiculous delight of spotting a kingfisher before everyone else does.
And sometimes those tiny encounters stay with you long after you've carried on walking.
That's The Quiet Wild.
Painting the moments that make you stop
I paint wildlife because I'm fascinated by those small encounters we almost miss.
A bird appearing beside the track. The sudden flash of colour over water. That brief moment when a wild animal seems to stop and look straight back at you.
Working mainly in soft pastel, I paint these encounters slowly, building up tiny details while leaving enough quiet around the subject for it to simply be.
My paintings aren't really about identifying a species or recording every feather.
They're about that feeling of having noticed something wild.
Hello, I'm Karen.
I grew up in Northern Ireland, surrounded by the kind of countryside that teaches you to look closely at small things. A long love of wildlife and nature eventually brought me to New Zealand — and to painting.
I work in soft pastel, drawn to the birds and wild creatures of Aotearoa. Each painting begins with an encounter — something I saw, something that stopped me — and ends when I feel I've captured that moment of quiet attention.
A few encounters from The Quiet Wild
Come into The Quiet Wild
If you love wildlife, art and those small moments in nature that are so easily missed, I'd love you to join me.
I send a couple of emails each week with new paintings, stories from behind the easel, wildlife encounters and first looks at new work.
No inbox avalanche. Just something beautiful to stop and notice.