Karen grew up in the grape growing region of Stellenbosh, South Africa. It was there that she spent many afternoons riding horses with her sister and dogs and soaking up the rich colors of the vineyards surrounding their home. Karen's earthy palette - chocolate browns, ochre, olive, deep blues and burnt reds - are drawn from the land that surrounded her. And much of what she paints today - landscapes, horses, rolling hills and shanty houses - are tapestries of her memory and imagination.
Karen has been drawing and sketching throughout her life, and began painting over a decade ago when "out of the blue, I was overwhelmed by a desire to paint." She enrolled at the Pieter Vermaak Art School and learned to paint.
If you stopped by Karen's home, you would find bowls of found objects: sea shells picked up in Zanzibar, sea glass from Mexico, ostrich egg shells and guinea fowl feathers from Africa. You might also find tin milagros from her travels to Santa Fe. Inspired by her own life experiences more than anything else, Karen occasionally adds personal touches to her paintings by way of these objects.
