I love to paint. According to a letter from my mother to my father written in 1951, I have loved to paint since I was two years old. Personally, I remember painting at the age of four. If you asked me what I like doing most . . . it’s painting.
As an adult, I began to paint consistently in the early 80’s. Given opportunity way from my day job, I painted landscapes, seascapes, urban scenes, and figures. I took workshops, a few classes at the San Francisco Art Institute, and formed a monthly “Sunday Afternoon Watercolor Society” comprised of architects, planners, engineers, and me, a political consultant.
In 1999, we moved to our home on Navarro Ridge and I painted Mendocino landscapes and figures in Bill Martin’s drop in studio. Later, after we built a studio, I started taking my paintings inside to finish and the paint itself became a new inspiration that affected my approach. Today, I am still attached to my first love, watercolor, and have added new loves—acrylic and collage—to my repertoire. Ink, water soluble pencil, and crayon are my favorite embellishment tools.
During the last decade, I have shown my work in the former William Zimmer Gallery and the Artists Cooperative of Mendocino, and have been an Artist in Residence at Yosemite National Park. Currently, I participate in independent shows with Three Rivers Studio Artists, Flockworks, Mendocino Art Center, and Gualala Arts.
Several times a year I teach workshops in my studio, where I try to share some unique approaches and techniques to painting, as will as my own passion. For information on these workshops and to see selections of my work, please visit my website:
www.karenbowersstudio.com