Karen Benco Watercolors and Acrylics

I have had a strong desire to paint since I was in high school. I took a few classes at Baum Art School and took classes at Barnstone Studios. The Barnstone classes were tough, but they taught me that art takes a lot of discipline and drive. After mostly using other artwork and photos from magazines as a guide, I started taking photos of my subjects from various vacations, local areas and my own yard. Oil was my only medium at that time. After taking a basic watercolor class at LCCC, I finally fell in love with watercolor. It took being shown what better watercolors and paper could do, to finally like using watercolor. Practically at the same time I started enjoying gardening, I decided to incorporate the floral subjects into my new technique in watercolor. Now my lifestyle leaves me to pursue painting various subjects in watercolor only. Most people call my technique hyper-realistic. I have won numerous awards in juried and judged shows.

**Most Portfolio folders are arranged in size order from larger to smaller. Click on images to make them larger.