About
When she was a little older, Karen drew and painted in Liverpool and gained a first class honours degree in Fine Art.
More drawing and painting at The Royal College of Art gained her an MA (with distinction).
Karen then painted with big paint brushes from very high ladders on film sets.
This made her arms ache and her legs wobbly, so she climbed down and bought some very small paint brushes.
Around this time, she became a Mum and had two sons who demanded she read three picture books to them every night.
This gave Karen the idea of what to do with her small brushes…
In 2009 Waterstone’s launched their first ‘Picture This’ competition. The prize was to illustrate Freddie and the Fairy for Julia Donaldson
…a drawing opportunity Karen couldn’t pass by. She drew and painted for all she was worth…and won!
This means Karen still joyfully spends lots of time drawing and painting…and now she writes too!
(…and a happy ending for the big paint brushes, they are still used to paint murals!)
Karen lives in Bristol with her family and Dr Calamari the cat.
Clients include:
Oxford University Press
Macmillan Children’s Books
John Pawson (www.plain-space.com)
University College Hospital, London
Walworth Garden Farm
Exhibitions:
A Squash and a Squeeze: Sharing Stories with Julia Donaldson
Seven Stories 2012
The Illustrators.
Curated by Julia Donaldson with Artlink Central 2011
