Our July episode of inspired to create is in the can!!
Kara did a fabulous job sharing her journey, her process and her love of people. We love you too, Kara. Thank you!!
As I began exploring the online artist community several years ago, I found Kara’s Let’s Face It series of classes. Talk about an incredible opportunity to learn. I loved seeing the different styles and techniques other artists use to create. In the fall of 2018, I attended Kara’s Traveling Art of Sisterhood (TAOS) artist retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kara provided such a fun and inviting space where artists got to know each other and create together. I met so many people I’d only connected with online and those relationships have made a big difference in my journey. She not only brings the most incredible art to life, she is also passionately supportive of other artists, me included.
Kara is an artist who lives in Southern California with her supportive husband, Jeff, and their three creative and inspiring children, Charlotte, Claire, and Brady. Kara has 20+ years experience in teaching and curriculum development. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in 1998 working with children ages six through twelve.
In 2008, she began teaching college courses, online, to adults studying to be teachers! She found it very rewarding to work with those that had a passion for teaching others. In 2018, she stepped away from teaching education courses to work full-time as an artist, art instructor, and mentor. Her work as an online instructor quickly transferred over to teaching art to students all over the world. Kara is known by her students, both online and in person, for providing a safe place for individuals to learn at their own pace, in a space that they feel they can try anything feel supported and encouraged. She feels very lucky to get to do what she loves every day, and that is create art and mentor others on their personal creative paths.
Kara has always been drawn to creating portraits, probably because of her love for people. Kara’s style is modern contemporary. Her work has been described as colorful and bold. It is her goal to create a portrait that makes the viewer want to know more about the story of the person in the painting. She often paints her children as they inspire her the most. Kara wants her audience to be drawn to what is happening in the lives of the individuals at the moment they were painted. Having worked with children, she knows how difficult it can be to grow up, and she wants to capture all of the feelings of her own children that they experience with each new day of their lives. Whatever the feeling, happiness, angst, sadness, anger, etc. she is hoping to capture it and help her audience feel it.
Click here to see Kara’s introduction video. https://vimeo.com/396772210
Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints:
Kara has many favorite artists, and here are a few that have and continue to inspire her work.
Kara not only teaches, but she also offers a multitude of classes from many different instructors.
When I interviewed Deb Weiers, Deb spoke about her experience with the online Let’s Face It series of lessons. Deb first attended Let’s Face It 2016 and found her love of faces. If you are looking to establish your style, what better way is there than to learn from a wide variety of instructors and as Kara says in the interview, add your favorite tips and pointers from each of them to your tool box? Kara has the Let’s Face It series of classes available from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and the current season of 2020. There are lots of amazing instructors using different mediums and styles.
Kara not only hosts online classes, but also offers in person workshops. Things can quickly change with COVID-19 so please make sure to check in with her about upcoming in-person events.
How do you stay informed on these fabulous learning opportunities?
If you’d like to see more of Kara’s work, check out all the wonderful learning opportunities on her website or visit the gallery that carries her work, click on all the listed links.
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