Artists Biography
With over 15 years experience in graphite pencil drawing, Karen Phillips is a UK-based professional wildlife artist.
Self taught, her only formal art training was to GCSE level art where she experimented with a variety of different media, before finding her real passion for graphite pencil drawing. She showed an early talent for capturing the character and emotion of her subjects. After gaining her BSc in Applied Biology from Bristol and working as a successfully published research scientist specialising in Genetics, she decided to re-train to learn more about business. She gained her MSc in Human Resource Management from UMIST/Manchester School of Management and qualified as a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development in one year. There followed a highly successful corporate career. After having her son, she decided to take the opportunity to explore and develop her artistic talents further.
Drawing has always been a passion with private commissions being accepted. Her work is held in private collections in the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia and is rapidly growing in both popularity and critical acclaim.
Karen works every day from her studio at home in Cheshire, often spending weeks capturing the immense detail of a drawing resulting in incredibly realistic pieces.
About My Art
I love working with graphite pencil. It allows me to focus on the detail of an animal; the feathers, fur, eyes, skin blemishes or patterns and highlight the existing beauty in the natural world. Without the distraction of colour, graphite accentuates the tonal variances, shades and highlights, making pieces sharp, striking, dramatic and always eye-catching. I enjoy the challenge of capturing enough detail to draw the viewer in , without being too photo-realistic.
With my art, I aim to grab the viewers attention, draw them in for a closer look, then keep them there with lots to study wherever they look in the piece. Hopefully by the end of the viewing experience, the viewer has shared a level of emotional connection to the animal similar to that which I have experienced during the creative process.
I strongly believe in studying wild animals in their natural habitat wherever possible. , where they are displaying their normal range of behaviours. Through my work I support a variety of charities dedicated to keeping wild animals free and in their natural environment.
I work exclusively from my own preliminary sketches and reference photographs. I use a professional range of harder graphic pencils for a sharper, well defined and cleaner drawing. I do not use computers at any stage to create or enhance my artwork.
Karen is a keen member of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust and her neighbouring private wildlife reserve at Lower Moss Wood Wildlife Hospital and Education Centre.
