KARSTEN KITTELSEN

Karsten works primarily in oil on canvas and canvas board, specializing in seascapes, wildlife, and nature.  When he is not painting, he enjoys exploring the Downeast coast in his lobsterboat, F/V Grammie out of Eastern Harbor, South Addison.

 Artistic Philosophy:

Karsten says:  I believe an artist’s mission is, rather than copying a scene from a photograph or even from nature, to try to express on canvas a mood from within.  Whatever I paint, be it a seascape, a wildlife scene, or a landscape, I try to put into the painting what I feel, based on what the scene means to me and how it affects me, hoping that the viewer will derive a similar pleasure from looking at the wor

Background:

Karsten grew up on the small island of Veierland off the coast of Norway, the son of a fisherman.  He descended from a long line of artists, including the internationally famous artist and illustrator of children’s fairy tales, Theodor Kittelsen.  He emigrated to the United States in 1961, and now makes his home in South Addison, Maine.

 Education and Training:

 Karsten received his education in Europe, Canada, and the United States.  He has a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Masters from the University of Georgia.  As a teenager, he worked closely with a group of artists from Oslo who had established their summer residences on the island where Karsten grew up, getting his first exposure to oils.  Later in life, he studied under June Carter, John McNeil, and others in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He was particularly influenced by the internationally recognized marine painter William DeGarth of Peggy’s Cove fame.  In the late nineties and early 2000’s he studied the impressionists (focusing on Edouard Manet and Claude Monet) at the Art Institute of Chicago.  More recently, he has studied the art of Winslow Homer and taken classes from the successful west coast seascape painter E. John Robinson as well as Carolyn Lewis.

 Contact Information:

Phone:  207/266-6027

E-mail:  kittelsen@aol.com

Address:  325 Mooseneck Rd., Addison, ME  04606

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