Collection of five!

Historical Athens is both ancient and modern, carrying with it the amazing architecture of the past and meeting the present head on with grace and beauty!

Swiftly drawn lines in black outline the shapes of my characters in these works.

Following in present mode of racial sensitivity and fully supportive of every color and hue of human skin, I choose to paint in radical, rainbow shade.

The blue line is a decorative choice for me to delineate the edges in my paintings--to emphasize the shape of a face or a form.

When we have the great butterfly migrations through our gardens in Southern California, I am in awe of their beauty and resilience. I have created this collection in honor of those wonderful creatures and the long distances they travel to keep our world pollinated.

Light and shadow, form and function, curves and hard edges create for me the choice of hues and shapes that I make in these paintings.

When I visit my dear Son Kirk and his family in Coral Gables, Florida, I am frequently inspired to create Artwork. This time I envisioned the shapes and colors of geometric forms, sometimes involving people, often abstract.

Throughout the decades. my work evolves in different genres, from landscapes to portraits. They are colorful and varied, depending on my moods.

During the time of the creation of this collection, I was teaching high school Art and Special Education, as well as, enjoying the Spring time of being a new Grandma Sugar to my first four grandchildren. This evoked many playful moments in my life, inspiring me to paint these playful and sweet pieces.

Green is a color which I find to be expressive -- to define edges and outline shapes.

In 2006, I had a wonderful gallery opening at hair salon on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles, where I hung this series of portraits for a month-long show. After the opening night, we closed down for the weekend. That weekend, despite barred doors and windows, a thief in the night backed his truck through the fence on the back entrance, broke in and stole three large paintings. Unfortunately, they were never recovered. (At least, he had good taste--my work can now be included in the great Art stolen for profit--perhaps I have joined the ranks of Picasso and Van Gogh...)

#picasso #vangogh #karenkwallenart

This was a truly thoughtful year for me, spending time immersed in the culture and beauty of Italy. While there, in 2003, I felt the poetry and splash of color flying out of my being.

One fine sunny day Ericka Lundback and I spread out a blue tarp on my porch along with acrylics, paper and brushes, enthusiastically and playfully creating Art!

This ongoing collection is meant to be a personal take on each individual whom I paint. I try to capture the personality of each person.