At the School of the Art Institute, Charlene began her practice painting with oils, creating vivid portraits that explored personality and emotions. She later shifted toward jewelry and functional art. In her return to painting, she did so with a refreshed approach that embraces water-based media and a deeper connection to the outdoors. Through her exploration of watercolor, she accumulated an expansive body of experiments that fuel her mixed-media works. While she celebrates the beauty of nature, she also feels a pressing obligation to address the harm humans inflict on our natural world. As her awareness of plastic pollution and the failures of recycling increases, Charlene seeks ways to reduce her own plastic use and to transform the plastics she does use along with other single use items. By blending her watercolor experiments with these unconventional materials and traditional art mediums, she creates sculptural elements into images that ask viewers to see the familiar through a transformative, environmentally conscious lens.