top of page

     Karen's Whimsey

        The slide show below includes some of Karen's more                               recent whimsical paintings.  

The-Gathering.jpg

 The Gathering    9x12 inches     Watercolor     Private Collection

  Why Snowmen Don't Have Noses   

                  16 x 20 inches  

       Acrylic on  Gessoboard   Sold

We hope no one from the Alaska State Troopers sees this painting because it includes elements of illegal activity.  In Alaska there is up to a $10,000 fine and a year in jail for feeding wildlife -- similar to what you might get for outrageous poaching of wildlife.  Yet, here's the evidence -- deer in our yard eating the noses right off a family of snowpeople.  Karen also took some liberties with this one.  She moved our house across Wrangell Avenue and turned it around.  I hope she wasn't predicting a combination earthquake and landslide in this whimsical portrayal of the view from her studio window.

Why Snowmen Don't Have Noses.jpg
It's Not Who-o-o You Are, But Whose You

    It's Not Who-o-o You Are, but    Whose You Are        9 X 12  inches         Watercolor   Private Collection

After seeing Karen's "A Note of Whimsey," painted for a former Petersburg Lutheran Church Pastor (see further down on this page) another of our former Pastors and his wife declared they want one, too.  Little statements like that can have a major impact on Karen's activities and soon her whimsical side was flowing profusely onto yet another sheet of watercolor paper.

           A Note of Whimsey     

     7 X 10 1/4 inches    Watercolor                      Private Collection

"A Note of Whimsey" originated when Karen showed visiting friends the score sheet for our usual evening game of Upwords -- kind of a vertical scrabble.  The game is our after-dinner routine (which Karen usually wins) but we don't write our names at the top of the columns.  Instead, Karen makes the most delightful drawings of whimsical critters.  I've long suggested she paint some of them, but it took a promise to paint one for our guests to begin what I hope is a new series.

A Note of Whimsey.jpg

          Now that Was a Good Cup of Coffee      

         4 1/2 x  6 1/2 inches     Watercolor     NFS

Rifling through a pile of her previously unfinished art, Karen spotted this chicken.  "Should I finish it?"  "Yes," I emphatically responded and before long another whimsical hen entered the world of art.

Now That Was a Good Cup of Coffee.jpg
Pretty Picky.jpg

            Pretty Picky       6 X 9 inches      Watercolor       Sold

Here we see the whimsical side of Karen -- a side I see a lot of every time she draws the headings on our evening games of Upwords.  There's a lot of this in Karen.

A Mother's Work is Never Done.jpg

A Mother's Work is Never Done           9 X 12 inches                             Watercolor       Sold

We attended a "White Elephant" party after Christmas.  Karen fell in love with a sculpture of -- well, look at the painting.  She didn't end up with it, but knowing how much Karen liked it, a friend made a trade as we walked out the door.  What was Karen to do but paint it to show her appreciation.  Of course Karen had to add her "flying feathers" twist to the subject.

Nesting Instinct.jpg

Nesting Instinct         10 X 13 inches          Watercolor           Sold

Seaside Lass    10 X 13 inches      Watercolor                                     Sold

Crab Girl_edited.jpg
P1240666_edited.jpg

Quest for a Nest     Approx. 6 X 8 inches     Watercolor  

                              Private Collection

bottom of page