About The Artist
Influenced by decades trekking the hills of Northern California in order to paint its inspiring beauty, my studio abstracts reflect my continuing fascination with color and atmosphere.
I often approach an abstract painting by laying out an expanse of one color, then adding or subtracting further colors intuitively, composing with relationships between color and shape. I now experiment with pouring paint to differentiate areas, allowing the paint to define outcomes and hopefully sidestep my usual preferences and intentions. These poured shapes have enlarged my vocabulary of expressive forms and have freed me from my tendency to judge my results too harshly.
I may add lines to emphasize the energetic direction or mood of the composition. These lines can become too aggressive, intruding upon the stillness of meditative spaces and require effort to keep them in check. The physicality and constant challenge of abstract composition keep the work alive for me.
Linda Larsen, Northern California abstract oil painter, developed her signature sense of color during decades hiking the Bay Area hills in order to paint their inspiring landscapes. After acquiring an art studio, and as her hiking excursions became more limited, she turned her love of color and line into creating abstract compositions in oil paint. She remains dedicated to this process today, currently pouring paint onto canvases, inviting the properties of the paint and gravity to work with her own energy. She has shown her work throughout California and has received recognition for both her landscapes and her abstracts. Satisfying a youthful impulse for adventure, Larsen received an art education during her travels in Canada from Vancouver and the northern reaches of British Columbia, to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Montreal, Quebec. Upon returning to California, she studied painting with Wally Hedricks, Chester Arnold and sensory awareness based drawing and color explorations with Connie Smith Siegel. Her favored muses during the years of landscape painting were Wolf Kahn and Emily Carr. Today she enjoys the art of Emily Mason, Helen Frankenthaler, Susan Frecon, Julie Mehretu, George Miyasaki, and many Color Field and contemporary abstract artists. http://www.lindalarsenartist.com
Oil Paint, Pastel
Studio Information
Contact Information
(415) 516-4812
Exhibitions & Press
2022–Light Space & Time 13th Annual Abstract online exhibit. Out of 1,091 entries from 29 countries, my oil painting “Blue” placed 3rd in the Painting category and 6th in the Overall category including both 2D and 3D.
https://www.lightspacetime.art/abstracts-art-exhibition-march-2022
2020–“Mourning Cloak” accepted into The deYoung Open, all-Bay Area juried exhibition celebrating SF deYoung Museum’s 125th Anniversary.
2019–“Ensemble,” MarinMOCA artist member invitational exhibit at Marin Community Foundation.
2018—”Bay Area Women Artists 2018″ at O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, jurors Donna Seager & Suzanne Gray.
2017—”Light: Artists of MarinMOCA Member Juried Show”.
2016—O’Hanlon Center for the Arts “Bold” Exhibit, juror Robert Green; MarinMOCA National Juried Exhibition: Drawing, juror Jack Fischer; exhibited in Juried Artists of MarinMOCA Member Show.
2015—Gallery Route One January 2015 Juried Show; juried into Marin County Fair Fine Arts & Crafts Exhibit.
2014—O’Hanlon Center for the Arts Bay Area Women Artists’ Exhibit; National League of American Pen Women Biennial Art Competition, Atlanta, GA, “Ancestors”, Award of Merit.
2009—Dreams and Revelations, MarinMOCA National Juried Exhibition, Phil Lenhares Juror.
2004—Professional Juried Art Show, Napa Town and Country Fair, Second Place; 19th Annual Sonoma Salute to the Arts, Honorable Mention; Falkirk 2004, Annual Juried Exhibition of Marin Artists; National League of American Pen Women 2004 Art Competition, Washington DC.
2003—Marin Scenes, Marin artists invitational curated by the Marin Arts Council; The Art of Seeing: Nature Revealed Through Illustration, Oakland Museum of CA
2000-1995—Artists Guild 2000 All California Juried Exhibit, San Diego Museum of Art;
Professional Juried Art Show, Napa Town and Country Fair, Award of Merit; Marin County Fine Arts & Crafts Show, Award of Merit & Marin Arts Council Award.
“Spirit of Drawing”, Connie Smith Siegel
“Spirit of Color”, Connie Smith Siegel
National League of American Pen Women Magazine, 2014.
2022–Light Space & Time 13th Annual Abstract online exhibit–“Blue” placed 3rd in the Painting category and 6th in the Overall category including both 2D and 3D
2014–National League of American Pen Women Biennial Art Competition, Atlanta, GA, Award of Merit.
2004—Professional Juried Art Show, Napa Town and Country Fair, Second Place; 19th Annual Sonoma Salute to the Arts, Honorable Mention
2000-1995–Professional Juried Art Show, Napa Town and Country Fair, Award of Merit; Marin County Fine Arts & Crafts Show, Award of Merit & Marin Arts Council Award.
