Watercolor Artist

     On our way back from vacation we stopped at a friend's house in Ohio that we had not seen in years.  On the walls were beautiful watercolor paintings.  I admired the paintings and my friend, Karen, told me that she had started painting about 10 years ago and that these were her paintings. 

     I was very impressed with the quality of Karen's work.  She has a wonderful eye for light and color and really knows how to pull a person into her paintings.  We discussed her techniques and how they are really similar to what you look for when you take a photograph. Two of the techniques we both use, Karen in her paintings and me in my photography, is the use of lighting and lines and framing.  Lighting is essential to a good painting or photograph.  Using lines and framing to keep the viewers eyes in the picture is also a technique we both try to use.

     As Karen and I talked, we discussed ways to promote our products.  Karen had several of her designs made into greeting cards and I suggested that she look into selling them in a Zazzle shop.  She started her Zazzle shop  with several of her watercolors made into greeting cards.  On Zazzle you have a choice of notecards or greeting cards and the customer can customize the greeting inside to fit their needs.  Below you see several of Karen's designs on greeting cards.  You can see more of her work at her Zazzle shop Kjmwatercolorsplus.

     Karen shared with me that she started painting 10 years ago when she took an evening class at Baylor University.  She fell in love with watercolors and has been doing it ever since.  Karen's favorite subject is flowers, but she has also tried some landscapes and still lifes.

     I asked her to share a story about her painting.  Here is what she shared about the sunflower painting featured below.  "All my flower paintings come from either photos or from actual flowers that I have received. The sunflowers were from photos taken at an arboretum in Texas on a very very hot summer day. You could feel the heat just sizzle and it was amazing to see these flowers just flourish in the hot and hazy summer sun. After I painted them I decided they really needed a background so I imagined a blue picket fence in the background to make the flowers pop. I do a lot of alteration to try and make my paintings sing. "

     Now that Karen has started in her Zazzle store she is adding new products each day.  In addition to greeting cards and posters you will find delightful gifts such as the iPad cover below.  There are also mousepads, buttons, magnets and a host of additional products.

     For more information on Karen's paintings check out my article at Unique Watercolor Greeting Cards.