Who Am I

Kari is a native of beautiful Northern California, just North of San Francisco. Growing up surrounded by the Russian River and Pacific ocean has afforded her an appreciation for nature and the beauty found in creation. World travel and living abroad began her sophmore year of college and introduced her to experiences and human beings that changed/shaped her life forever. After years of travel, Kari discovered the perfect outdoor recreational community in Wenatchee, WA. and has never left. Submerged in the beauty of the desert, she found her inspiration grow in response to the depth of color and layers that form the desert mountains, flowers, and ocean. As a K-12 Physical Education/Health educator, she has a strong passion for making a positive difference in other people’s lives and believes that her art has the ability to uplift humans as well.

 

Her art career began just over two years ago when she got a wild hair and purchased her first 40 x 40" watercolor canvas.  Her very first painting was of her spirit animal; the elephant painting located above the Cafe Mela couch was her very first painting and the only piece she refuses to sell as it is very dear to her heart and represents struggles that led her to practicing art in the first place. Always being an avid athletic competitor, art was never a focus of hers. 100% self-taught, she immediately found healing in her art discovery and since then, has practiced some form of art every single day. 

 

With a growing desire to convey the qualities of color, stroke, and texture in her images, Kari began exploring different mediums and styles. She stumbled upon fluid art and began experimenting with alcohol inks, fluid acrylic paint, and most unique, the practice of painting with epoxy resin. The depth of freedom and creativity she finds in abstract fluid art allows her to literally pour out her soul into her paintings.

 

Kari strives to represent the untamed beauty of nature in her abstract paintings through the texture, colors, and depth of her pieces, enhanced further by resin. She remains fascinated by the way simple objects in nature become works of art when looked at in the right light and through an open perspective. Her hope is that when people view her paintings they are drawn in by the interlacing of chaos and simplicity.