Kalispell oil painter featured in museum exhibit

For artist Karen Young, patience is part of the creative process.

Whether she’s working on one of her signature miniature landscapes — some of which are barely bigger than a postage stamp — or a full-size portrait of one of her quarter horses, Young won’t touch anything but a small, fine-tipped paintbrush.

“I use miniature brushes on all of my paintings,” Young said. “I just love the detail they give me.”

Painting exclusively with small brushes, however, means Young must invest a lot of time in each one of her pieces.

“Some of the bigger ones can take months, maybe even a year,” she said.

Young, a Texas native who moved to Kalispell 21 years ago, is featured this month in a solo artist exhibit at the Bigfork Museum of Art & History.

The majority of Young’s oil paintings are equine-themed, but she also dabbles in floral still-lifes, portraits, wildlife and landscapes.

As a young girl growing up on a ranch in Texas, Young was always drawn to the beauty of animals and the natural world. It wasn’t long before she started expressing that interest and appreciation through art.

“I always had talent, even back in Texas,” she said. “My classmates from high school have said to me, ‘You were always drawing.’”

She has participated in a handful of art workshops over the years, but for the most part, Young is self-taught.

“I came up here (to Montana) and just started painting, and it just kind of got serious,” she said.

Young often uses her own horses as models for her paintings. She describes her style as “more realistic than anything else.”

“I can’t seem to branch out, so I figure I might as well stick with what I’m doing,” she said.

She also admits to getting inspiration from an unlikely source — picture frames.

“If I have a frame, I can kind of figure out which way I want to go,” she said. “I don’t want the frame to take away from the painting. I want it to blend.”

According to museum director Marnie Forbis, Young has received the Bigfork museum’s people’s choice award twice over the course of her career. She also won back-to-back people’s choice awards from the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell in 2009 and 2010.

“She’s a joy to work with, and such a sweet person,” Forbis said. “Her technique has gotten better and better as the years go by.”

Forbis said Young’s art it strengthened by the emotional connection she has with her subjects.

“People who really get horses are the ones who have them, ride them, breed them,” Forbis said. “She has an affinity with what she is painting, so it translates really well.”

Young’s work will be on display at the museum through Sept. 24. For more information, call the museum at 837-6927 or visit www.bigforkmuseum.org.