About me

Following formal training from 1972-1976 at Moore College of Art & Design, I earned a BFA in Graphic Arts and Advertising. I was offered a position in a Wilmington, DE advertising agency where I worked as an art director in graphics and multimedia for 20 years. While working full-time, I also started watercolor painting as a hobby. Eventually, I decided to pursue painting full-time and began working from my studio in Gulph Mills, PA after having two children.

Over the years, my work has taken me in many directions, encompassing over 1,000 original works as well as commissioned paintings, portraits, large-scale mural works for museums, churches, restaurants, offices, and private homes. My commissioned work now also includes paintings of pets, painted furniture, clothing, pocketbooks, pillows, and cut stained glass murals. More recently, I relocated to sunny Florida, where I continue to find inspiration and joy in my work.

Contacts

610-247-8799
karenkirkshields@gmail.com

Pompano Beach
Florida

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About my art

Since I was a small child growing up outside of Philadelphia, I have always been captivated by whimsical ideas and images. Using people, natural landscapes, literature, and an array of creatures as starting points of inspiration, I apply a unique point of view, texture, color, and composition with the hope of delivering something that results in a raucous, surprising, or sublime revelation. As an artist, I invite you to see the world as I do, sometimes beyond the ordinary. Creativity takes courage, and frequently, I am never quite sure where I am going to end up once I've started. But I embrace this uncertainty and use it as a driving force to create something truly original and beautiful. In the words of Edgar Degas, "It is only when the painter no longer knows what he is doing that he can do good things."