October Meeting

Karen Werner will demonstrate her oil painting style at our October 12th meeting.  All TAL meetings are held at 7:00 in the TUSD boardroom (300 South C Street Tustin, CA )

To see her work, visit her blog: www.karenwernerart.blogspot.com

        KAREN WERNER artist biography

Art has always been a part of Karen's life, having grown up around paint.  Her parents owned a sign company in Orange County where as a young child she tagged along, watching her father design and hand letter billboards, showcards and vehicles.  The smell of paint and sawn wood was in the air, and a deep wooden drawer full of Prismacolor pencils would keep her drawing for hours on the floor of her father’s office. 

With the goal of teaching High School art, she completed her studio work as an art major with a drawing and painting emphasis at California State University, Fullerton. Meanwhile,  she had begun her own family and teaching younger children appealed to her. She earned her Bachelors in Liberal Studies, and  Masters in Education at Claremont Graduate University. After teaching elementary school for sixteen years she retired early to start painting again.  She soon dedicated herself to painting daily, convinced that practice is the key to steady growth as an artist.  Karen launched her blog in 2010 as a way to make her work visible to the public, joining a vibrant and growing online arts community.  

  

Working in oil and occasionally watercolor, Karen paints a wide range of subject matter. She enjoys variety and challenge, striving to paint with versatility whatever inspires her, from the simple to complex.  Her goal is to paint realistically, but in a loose, poetic way.  In her home studio she paints from life and occasionally her photo references.  Her plein air work has taken her to various locations throughout Southern California and the West.

In addition to painting, Karen teaches two day oil workshops in her home studio. Her teaching ability makes her a sought after demonstrator and instructor for  various  Southern California art associations.

Karen has received instruction from accomplished artists such as:  Milford Zornes, Chris Van Winkle, Ratindra Das, Greg La Rock, Carol Marine, Joseph Todorovitch, Jennifer McChristian, Qiang Huang and Kim English. 

Her paintings have won numerous awards in juried shows and are held in private collections throughout the United States and abroad. Karen and her husband live in Upland. She has three grown children and seven grandchildren.