Karen Mobley: Big Doodles

Karen Mobley, “Big Doodles” March 2025

Entropy, 101 N. Stevens, Spokane, WA (take the spiral staircase in the record store and head up to the upper level)

Artist Reception: First Friday, March 7, 2025

“When I was invited to exhibit at Entropy, I decided to embrace the odd building shape and make works just for this place. I have created large format watercolors that fit the spaces between the prominent posts (the piers that hold up the roof). Each of these spaces is a curved wall that is roughly 10 feet wide. I also wanted to make the work large enough that you could see it from below and across the space. For several years, I have been making what I call “doodles” – small paintings with watercolor without too much of a plan. These started out as a Covid 19 shutdown project. For these large watercolors, I decided to keep going with the very informal and spontaneous process where I work loosely on paper pinned to the wall. I have been working from images of my garden and my memories and photos of my favorite outdoor spaces. There isn’t anything too serious about these works – it’s painting for the fun of painting. Some of the fun of it is what I call “color problems.” I pick a bright and hard to work with color, block in some of the image and then try to work with the complements and the texture. My art is contemplative and subjective, not purely illustrative or representational. It does take its cues from the observed image.”

Karen Mobley was born in Wyoming to a game warden and a freelance writer. She was raised on an elk refuge and spent much of her young life bumping around on dirt roads with her dad. She started making art in the kitchen and has continued. She has participated in 5 artist-in-residency programs including the prestigious Jentel Foundation. Her new book, 6B Pencils, hit the shelves in September. She has published three books Prairie, Wind, Winter, Trial by Ordeal, and Catatopia. She has exhibited widely throughout the Pacific Northwest including exhibitions at Kolva Sullivan, Terrain Gallery, Spokane Art School, Moses Lake Art Center and other venues.