Kara Strachan is a UK-based artist whose evocative acrylic and mixed-media paintings are steeped in the best of both structured artistry and emotive atmospheres.

Background & Early Influences

Kara Strachan was born in Southport and discovered her artistic voice through an early career in floristry - running her own successful flower shop in North London. Those years surrounded by blooms sparked a deep fascination with form, colour, and natural beauty, which continues to inform her painting today.

A subsequent move to Staffordshire further shaped her visual sensibility. Immersed in the region’s ancient woodlands and classic English gardens, Kara’s appreciation for seasonal rhythms and lush greenery deepened, laying the foundation for her evocative landscapes and floral work.

Artistic Practice & Style

With over 18 years of dedicated studio practice, Kara specialises in acrylics and mixed media, developing a distinctive layered underpainting method. By using complementary opposite tones, nuanced dry brush techniques, and fluid mediums to manipulate texture and movement, she crafts atmospheric compositions that resonate with expressive freedom and technical finesse - inviting viewers into the wild landscapes she evokes from memory and emotion.

Her work is deeply inspired by the UK's varied coastlines - particularly the Northumbrian shores noted for their sweeping sandy beaches and dramatic skies - allowing her to capture both mood and momentum on canvas.

The hallmark of Kara Strachan’s work is a fusion of realism and expression, combining careful craftsmanship with a spontaneous, emotional response to nature. Her process often begins with underpaintings in contrasting tones, which serve as a foundation of depth and harmony. Through delicate dry brushing she builds texture and mood, while her use of flow mediums allows paint to move organically, introducing rhythm, movement, and a dynamic energy that animates the canvas.

Visually, her paintings balance structured composition with gestural mark-making, evoking the fleeting light, weather, and mood of wild landscapes and coastal scenes. The results are works that feel immersive and alive - capturing both the physical presence of a place and the emotional memory it stirs.

Her years in anamorphic street art also inform her style: there’s a strong sense of scale, spatial awareness, and impact, whether she’s painting an intimate woodland study or a sweeping seascape.

At its core, Kara’s style is about atmosphere and experience - not just representing landscapes, but conveying their shifting vitality through layers, movement, and texture.

Studio, Exhibitions & Workshops

Since around 2007, Kara has made Staffordshire her creative base, operating a combined studio and gallery where she produces and exhibits her work.

Beyond studio work, she plays a vital role as an educator: hosting regular painting workshops year-round in her studio/gallery, as well as residential painting retreats in the Lake District. In recent years she has also organized plein air workshops on the beaches of Northumberland, bringing her teaching into immersive natural environments.

Commercial & Large-Scale Work

Complementing her fine art practice, Kara spent a decade as an anamorphic street and commercial artist. She collaborated with global advertising agencies to design and paint large-scale, immersive floor and wall works - projects executed both in the studio and in situ across cityscapes. These commissions for airlines, car brands, museums, music tours, and multinational clients showcased her ability to merge fine art technique with impactful commercial presentation.