Artist Carolyn Busenlener is a contemporary abstract painter, drawing her personal imagery from nature and urban structures. Her paintings show a love of experimentation with laying, scraping, mark making and texture. Presently Carolyn is working in oils, acrylics and mixed media on a tree series, an abstract series and a waterscape series. Her studio is in an idyllic setting on a bayou next to a pond in Pearlington, Mississippi.

In 2014 Carolyn Busenlener was awarded the Jane Hiatt Arts Fellowship for travel and research. She also participated in the Mississippi Invitation at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, Mississippi. The artist received the competitive Mississippi Arts Commission Visual Arts Fellowship for 2013. Hundreds of her paintings, drawings and monoprints are owned by corporate and individual collectors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Ohio and throughout the United States. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a painting major from Tulane University in New Orleans, Carolyn attended the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and numerous workshops around the United States and Europe.

My present work has evolved out of my interest in using surface texture to enhance my non-representational and my representational work. My abstract work flows from my belief in the capacity of art to create its own world. I often do not have a preconceived plan for my abstract work. I begin a painting by making marks which then led to color choices and suddenly the painting takes on a life of its own. The paintings are often about the act of painting itself; its gestural rhythms, the power of color, the expressiveness of marks and the interaction of textures.

In my representational work the subjects are part of my personal experiences; tree landscapes, irises from my garden, fish from the bayou by my house, the people and relationships in my life. The subject is just an excuse to play with the paint. In my non-representional work the shapes are inspired by nature and my emotional response to life's experiences. Painting is rewarding when I am able to solve the problems the painting poses, but agony when I struggle to solve these problems. The challenge of painting can wake me up at night. But the enjoyment of solving the problems gives me joy.

Experimentation is challenging. I am now experiencing the excitement of acrylics. The layering of acrylic paint to create an illusion of depth and the quick drying time provide new discoveries for me. This new freedom seems to be pushing my work in a new direction. Change is always stimulating.