Everyone tells me to loosen up and paint in a more modern style, but visiting museums inspired me to want to paint. I am currently wallowing in the past.

My paint application includes a lot of cross-hatching and scumbling. Lots of layers in oil or acrylic. I refine the drawing as I go.

BIO

I grew up in Larchmont, New York. My sister, Jeanne, taught me to paint horses. At age seven, my mother gave me a set of oil paints and told me to go paint in the basement when I woke up early. At age eight, my best friend and I started The Little Artists Club. We had a fancy art opening with cookies in the basement. My mother, Jeanne and I spent a summer on a grand tour of Europe, visiting many museums, starting with the Louvre.

I attended SUNY College at New Paltz, and received my B.F.A. in painting with a minor in art history from the University of Colorado. College art history classes evoked vivid memories of seeing the originals as a kid. Other influences are Charles Addams, New Yorker cartoonists, Mad Magazine, and Eloise.

I started a punk fanzine and a band or three, and then moved to San Francisco with The Varve. We played around California at clubs like the iBeam, Fab Mab, and Tool and Die. I made collage-based flyers and posted them all over. The plan was to return to art if the music thing didn’t pan out in five years. When the band split up, I resumed painting, outdoors in Golden Gate Park.

My exhibits include in Bay Area galleries, juried competitions, and my work is housed in corporate and private collections. I taught art and design at Expression College, BAVC Media, S.F. City College Extension and privately. 

MUSIC

Just to make life more interesting, I still play in bands. Click here >> for my musical exploits.

Photo of Carolyn Crampton in 2025 by Jonathan Boyton.