Award-winning fine artist Karen Chandler has created art for NASA and the U. S. Air Force. She’s also taught art classes and designed book covers for notable authors. Karen is well known for her closeup paintings of sunglass-wearing women expressing confidence, as well as colorful flowers and fruit. You’ll often see extravagant necklaces and touches of art deco and modern art in her vibrant paintings.

Karen and her husband were high season visitors from New York for about 18 years until moving to Venice full time in 2018. She studied oil painting at the Stevenson Academy of Traditional Painting in Sea Cliff, New York. She also studied design at the New York School of Visual Arts and photography at the New York Institute of Technology.

“I’ve been painting with oils for over 25 years,” she said. “I’ve incorporated digital editing, acrylics and photography over the years to help me create art that touch an emotional chord. It’s deeply meaningful when someone resonates with one of my paintings and feels a sense of inspiration.”

One of the characteristics of some of Karen’s paintings is what’s known as the power pose. “The pose usually has the subject looking upwards with an air of confidence,” Karen explained. “Using bold bright colors reinforces the positive feeling.”

Karen has been affiliated with the NASA Space Art Program and the U. S. Air Force Art Program since 1990. Her work is in the permanent collection at the Kennedy Space Center and the Air Force Art Collection. Other paintings are on display at the Pentagon and the National Aviation Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

“I’ve had exhibitions throughout the country and my work is in several private collections, as well as the permanent collection at the Union League Club of New York,” Karen added.

A member of the Society of Illustrators since 1989, Karen’s illustrations have been featured with major publishers like Simon & Schuster, Bantam Books, Random House, and many others. Her work is on the covers of several popular series by authors such as R.L. Stein, Agatha Christie, and Victoria Thompson’s historical mysteries. 

See more of Karen’s art at KarenChandlerFineArt.com.