Carol Saxe has been strongly affected by visual stimuli for as long as she can remember, recording her impressions in paintings and drawings. Water, people, windows, places, boats and doors have been constant themes throughout her art. The bays and oceans that she has spent her life observing and sailing on and the beaches she walks daily with her dogs have infused a sensibility which translates into her paintings. For Carol, painting is like magic, evoking memories and feelings, and creating illusion. She’s excited by skillfully handled paint and constantly explores new ways to develop her work. The act of painting helps her to better see and experience her environment. She’s always searching for better ways to communicate the feelings and visual complexity she sees in the settings she chooses to create and tries to bring a unique and fresh approach to better depict that which inspires her paintings initially.
Carol uses dramatic light and shadows to enhance the architectural realism. Her paintings often include doors and windows, looking in and looking out, creating visual passages for the eye to wander in and around the composition, and referencing the viewer in the painting. In other representational paintings Carol uses playful compositions, reflections and added elements to better communicate the feelings the setting inspired. Her art invites the viewer to come into the illusion and complete the picture in their own emotional context and mind. To draw the viewer in and create a mood, she often adds elements to an existing setting. Her paintings tell a story. She’s moved by the beauty of her surroundings.
