Karen Mortensen

I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, a country occupied by the Nazis in 1943, and raised among art and artists. When I was 12 our family immigrated to Canada and subsequently to USA. After living in many cities and countries I finally settled in Hawaii where I spent my time happily in my waterfall garden and creating my art. After 17 years in Hawaii showing my art at numerous venues and winning many awards I have now relocated to Yucca Valley in California and established a new studio. Of course outside my studio I again built a large wildlife pond and waterfall with numerous birdfeeders around my desert gardens. I truly hope that this will be my final destination where I can concentrate on desert inspired artwork.
As it turned out this was not my final destination. I got seriously ill by something toxic in my environment and had to move again.
Now I live in a tiny desert town named New Cuyama. There I again built a wildlife pond and set up birdfeeders. This time it is a small pond with a little waterfall which goes along with my small house and studio. Eventually I recovered enough to start working again and since i'm a very productive artist it is exciting to me to be uploading all the art I'm currently making.

I studied at Chouinard Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles but consider myself an autodidact.
As a result my education has been mostly done on my own where I specialize in portraits in both my paintings and sculpture. Lifelong learning and extensive exploration of materials has fed my constant and continuing inspiration for producing art.

I have exhibited extensively in Hawaii and also in US mainland. Participating in numerous juried group shows has garnered me many awards. It has been an honor to be included in the prestigious Schaefer Portrait Challenge since it's inception.
Now that I live in California it will be exciting to see what venues I can find for my work.