Tara Kemp
Tara studied Fine Art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and continues her long art career primarily through oil painting. When possible she prefers to paint Alla Prima which allows her to complete a painting in one sitting. This gives the work a feeling of freshness, and captures the essence of a scene.
She paints in a Contemporary Impressionist style, realistic from a distance, yet abounding with abstract shapes and brush strokes upon closer inspection. Her paintings show the play of complimentary colors, opposites, on the canvas to give vibration and shape to the subjects that she paints.
Her focus is Oregon landscapes and figurative scenes of people engaged in everyday activities. “When composing a painting, I look for the story to tell. My goal is to make a connection with the viewer through a shared common experience. I use light and shadow in the composition and design it in a way that energy flows through the scene and creates a feeling of depth and dimension. People often tell me they feel as if they can walk right into my paintings.”
“I strive to preserve the beauty in nature through my work. It is something of an act of preservation and of spiritual practice to bring to the viewers attention the beauty of our endangered natural world.”
Tara is a member of The Oil Painters of America, The American Impressionist Society, Maude Kerns Art Center, and the Plein Air Painters of Lane County.
