Carolyn Bloom

As a young child Carolyn Bloom was fortunate to be raised on a large farm in southern Michigan. From her early childhood she was exposed to the beauty and wonders of animals and the natural world. Carolyn started to draw from "the back of a horse", she would spend hours sitting bareback on a big draft mare sketching the other animals in the fields. “How I loved Bell", she joked that she was her mom, because that was her preferred place to be! Carolyn was hooked on art making from then on. Carolyn received her BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) degree from the University of Michigan with a major in painting (oil) and minors in watercolor, and art history. She has continued to study and explore many aspects of painting up to the present day. She married young, had 2 wonderful sons, Eric and Ethan and at some point became a single parent. Life was really challenging in those years, but she always managed a bit of time for art. Besides the farm, motherhood has had the most impact on her art, influencing her to excel. Now having tragically lost both her adult sons, she looks at this experience of birth to death as a yardstick to help guide her love for life and especially to transmit a deeper connection to nature, transformation and beauty. She lived for many years in lovely Marin County near San Francisco and then in fields and vineyards of Sonoma County. In the Sierra Mountain community of Grass Valley she had the opportunity to finally develop and devote herself to her art. She and her husband Duane lived in Oregon for a number of years, close to flowing rivers, stunning mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Currently they reside in Arizona, and she is enthusiastically discovering a place not only of extraordinary scenery, but also of mystery, wonder, and history. My work Studio landscapes are the most satisfying of my work. I usually work in oil, taking my time to vary the paint application and develop images. My oeuvre contains a variety of subjects, depending on what satisfies my aspirations at any given time. On occasion, I’m moved to express an insight which can be abstracted while incorporating representational elements. These are drawn from the world of living things to more universal subjects such as planets, stars and galaxies. I find the many lush colors and smells of flowers lend themselves to evocative expression! I am most challenged by plein air painting (painting outdoors) as I strive to capture a fleeting impression as quickly as possible. Just as my subject matter varies, so does my technique and materials. I use oil, or gouache depending on my mood, and the scale of a painting. Recently I have come to focus on oil painting. I love that it has a long history and that there are so many amazing artists to explore and learn from over the centuries as well as currently. In the studio, oil can be rolled, spread with painting knives, scraped and of course brushed. All these approaches combined result in amazing texture and interesting effects, which in turn create a version of ‘reality’. My knowledge, expression and skills are increasing as is my appreciation of America's endless beauty. I do commissions frequently, working very closely with my clients in order to assure their satisfaction.