Featured Artist Karen Berstler!

This week's featured artist is Karen Berstler, PWCS! Karen is an award winning watercolorist living in northern Delaware. She teaches painting and drawing at the Newark Art Alliance and other venues throughout the region.

Although well versed in many mediums and genres, Karen is best known for her stunning portraits and figurative paintings. She excels at capturing the likeness of her subjects and depicting the play of light and shadow on the human form.

She is a graduate of Kutztown University with a BFA in Painting and she is a Signature Member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society.

Her Artist Statement:
"I believe that art can be thought provoking and yet still beautiful. I feel my purpose is to share the truths and insights that I learn through my continuous and insatiable curiosity and ultimately leave the space I occupy more beautiful than it was when I got here. I have always been fascinated with people and their personal stories and what makes us all tick as human beings. If I were a writer I would write about people. If I were a singer I would sing songs about people. I am a painter. So, I paint people. Often I paint images of children. I call them “kinetic portraits” because I like to use poses and compositions that are not contrived and almost candid. And with kids, motion is almost always involved. I want you to see as much of their genuine nature as possible. I also paint likenesses of women. They could be described as self-portraits though not in the literal sense. I take my personal experiences and try to convey what I have learned as 'truth' and show our collective human experience. I use color, body language and composition to help convey the emotion of these experiences. With each one my intention is to show you that what you are seeing, while my truth, is also a part of yourself, no matter how small a part or how temporary."

Karen Berstler will be teaching a class on drawing hands and painting skin tones this Thursday, July 23, at our studio in Kennett Square! 

Summer classes at my studio in Kenett Square, Pennsylvania start on July 9th. As always, classes are every Thursday for 7 weeks. 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Rain Date for each class is the next day -- Friday. New this year, we will have our classes outdoors on the spacious patio!

• Each artist will have their own table and patio umbrella. 
• Tables are 9 feet apart.
• Masks or face shields are required.
• Social Distancing will be enforced.
• Frequent hand washing and sanitizing will be encouraged. 

Guest teachers this year include Yvonne Mucci, Karen Berstler, and Karen Frattali. This is a special opportunity for art students to expand their knowledge and skills by studying with the region's most popular and respected art teachers. Class size is limited, so send me an email to reserve your space. See the full schedule in on the workshops page of my website. Each 3 hour class is $45 per person.