From the time she was five and won her first art competition, Karen was hooked on art! She grew up in South Florida and spent summers in the Mountains of Western North Carolina. Both places have fostered her love of the mountains and the seashore, which she expresses in her paintings. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Florida, she went on to study for her masters in Art Education at Florida Atlantic University. Although she spent the next 18 years raising her two children, she continued to find a creative outlet with photography. The family traveled extensively throughout the US and Caribbean during this time and many of Karen's paintings are inspired by her memories and photos of her travels. Karen loves to paint on location, en plein air, whenever she can. These outdoor painting experiences help give life to her studio work. She likes to finish a painting in one sitting so that she can capture that flash of inspiration which attracted her to the subject. Pastels, with their vibrant, immediate color suit her style perfectly!