Mixed-media artist Karen Dukes’ is a native Northern Californian whose musings arise from her passion for her personal garden. Through nature and its inspirations, Karen creates with a whimsical style using bold color and texture to illustrate the magnificent dragonflies, butterflies, vineyards and tropical scenes. Her style invokes many smiles from art collectors, novice art enthusiasts, as well as children.
Karen’s use of metals and glass infusion create a collage that is bold yet whimsical in nature. The creations are assembled and then kiln fired to around 1385 degrees, creating a meld of glass and dichroic glass that flow and fuse, blending shapes and colors. The backdrops of most of her pieces are distinct creations of acrylic and resin flow.
Her use of bold colors has been praised as “happy, intriguing, and vibrant.” She believes art should be an uplifting experience and a celebration of life. In addition to being highly praised and juried into prestigious exhibits, Karen’s works have been readily collected world wide with some collectors owning up to 5 pieces within their collections.
Rideout Hospital and The Marysville Cancer Center showcase her art on their walls to bring joy to patients and visitors. Karen also participates in Art in Public Places on murals, Sacramento News & Review newsstands and cancer awareness projects.
Karen says: “My selection of subject matter is inspired by distinctive shapes and colors in nature. I love to paint all the brilliance and beauty found in nature and establishing in my paintings a sense of movement. An awareness of abstract design along with bright and bold colors is a part of this process.”
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