Collection: Karen Cairns

Born in Edinburgh, Karen Cairns is an artist and an architect. Her architectural training is apparent in her expertly rendered buildings and cityscapes but the emotion evoked through artistry is entirely her own. "I paint the effect of light on familiar urban settings. My favourite times are early morning and evening, and I try to capture the intense colours in the sky and reflections in water, wet pavements and even puddles. The cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh provide stunning backdrops and there is so much beauty to be captured that I am never stuck for a subject."

Karen works predominately in watercolour in a loose impressionistic style, painting urban streetscapes and the harbour scenes of the east and west coasts of Scotland. She has mastered the demanding medium of watercolour to the point where she can capture scenes of complex draughtsmanship with a mixture of loose brushstrokes and a measured sense of the paint's unpredictable behaviour when applied wet onto wet. Karen aims to delight using her ability to capture the vagaries of restless weather and the rare moments of light which transform familiar urban settings into living art.