Hello Friends,
Welcome to my growing art gallery of original nature inspired oil paintings. Enjoy viewing my current artwork and select art that warms your heart! I cater to art lovers who treasure the finest quality and the personalized touch of the artist.
Visit my Art Gallery and discover a collection of giclées and Limited Edition giclées, all museum quality, printed on canvas or on William Turner paper, your choice! Enjoy selecting the image size for your fine art purchase and choose from standard or gallery depth stretcher bars to suit your display preference.
You may shop securely online and enjoy delivery right to your doorstep. Or, If you are close to Gwinnett County, Georgia, you may shop a selection of my custom framed art in person at The Hudgens Center for Art & Learning in their retail gift shop.
Decorate your home, your office, and purchase fine art for that very special person in your life. My original, wonderfully vibrant fine art prints will surely bring the enjoyment of nature and art to you, your family and friends for many years to come.
Wishing you all good things throughout 2022! And, remember I will always enjoy hearing from you.
Art is Life! Be well, Karen LaFontaine
(Photo Credit, Peter LaFontaine, Karen LaFontaine with her painting, Seven Pipers Running)
Shop an exclusive Art Gallery Giclée Collection of museum quality fine art prints on canvas and William Turner paper. Hand signed Limited Edition giclées are available. Enjoy delivery directly to your doorstep. Pictured below: Mini Canvas Giclée Print Pair, Tulip and Cardinal. This colorful, cheerful pairing make a wonderful gift for the art lover in your life!
Discover the real life stories that inspired her oil paintings that became museum quality giclées for you! LaFontaine shares her exploration of art and life and her inspired commitment to living an art filled life!
Rose Painting
Today is a magically wonderful day in my art studio. I am laser focused on my subject, immersed in the rhythm of painting a single red rose, …
Magnolia Little Gem
A Georgia Garden Beauty At the start of our spring gardening season, some twenty years ago, my husband planted a new tree in our backyard. I remember …
Twilight
I cherish my time in my painting studio at day’s end. The daylight is fading and there remains just a bit of twilight to illuminate my paintings …
Home of exhibited paintings: Ode To O’Keeffe, Seven Pipers Running, Tea Rose Delight, Cloudy Day Blue Ridge Georgia, Mountain Stream Beauty North Georgia, Morning Greets Us Amelia Island Florida, Memories of Tuscany
Enjoy paintings: Bee Happy, My Sweetheart Rose, Dreamscape, Tulip Garden Treasure, Forever Yours Red Rose, Springtime In Texas, Atlantic Sunrise, Spring’s Cardinal, Rosy Monday, Ode To O’Keeffe, Passion Butterfly Tango, Hummingbird Twilight, Sunny Daze, Wine Country North Georgia.
My Painterly Ways
The Story of Seven Pipers Running
A new painting is finished! Nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, – no, no make that Seven Pipers Running!
These birds delighted me on a sun-drenched beach in Naples, Florida one October morning, seven sandpipers running in unison with the waves as the salty water advanced up the sand on a crisp refreshing morning. Strolling in their direction, I wondered – can I snap a quick picture that could capture their dance with the sea? I stood perfectly still as I observed them; all seven sandpipers running toward the water, as if they were desperate to dip their toes and just as quickly they would turn and run from the waves as the water rolled up the beach, soaking more of the sandy shoreline with each approach.
I halted and kept my distance while observing their singular and hypnotic trance. I did not want to interrupt my morning stroll, but it seemed paramount to not interrupt nature’s dance unfolding right in front of me. I gently removed my camera from my pocket and started snapping pictures ensuring a safe distance so as not to distract these small morning joggers from their meditations with the sea.
It was wonderful to share the beach with these sandpipers that morning!
I kept the wonder of their singular and repeated chorus with me in my mind’s eye.
I brought my photographs home to my painting studio and my easel. Bingo! Seven beautiful sandpipers each unique in their appearance. Each intent on keeping their little feet dry! I delighted in the idea of painting them! What fun to paint them as they ran from the wave, up the sand in unison. I will always remember this morning stroll, this slice of heaven on earth.
I invite you to indulge your love of the beach with each brush stroke, each color. If you love the salty air, and the sand, and all the wondrous nature that comes with a trip to the beach then Seven Pipers Running may be your slice of heaven too. I invite you to enjoy this new canvas! (Completed in April 2020.) Click here to see Seven Pipers Running on exhibit.
My Painterly Ways
The Story of Tulip Garden Treasure
A new painting is finished! I joyfully present: Tulip Garden Treasure!
When I am in search of inspiration for a painting, I repeatedly discover that I do not have to travel far from home. I wander around in my garden with an adventurous spirit, focused eye and my camera at the ready.
During our recent Spring season, our Georgia rains were frequent and abundant. These wet days, combined with just the right number of sunny days encouraged mother nature to spur my flower garden into presenting me with numerous flowering tulips. I remember the dormant bulbs purchased years earlier at the flower market in the Fall. Each bag promised me tulips in shades of red, orange and yellow. I had planted my bulbs eagerly, and they had slumbered through a number of hot summers, and as many not so cold winters. I wondered if tulips were a possibility for this southern gardener…
Finally, they were here! The Tulips! The Tulips! There were more than a dozen of them, arranged in small clusters in my flower garden! They were red and orange and there were pink ones too! Like jewels they glittered from all angles in the sun. Like treasure chests, they closed at day’s end. What amazing treasure to find right outside one’s front door!
I brought my photographs inside to see them more clearly. The photographs excited me, most especially, one specific shot taken from a bird’s eye view. I set it on the easel and prepared the canvas! So fleeting was this unique moment in the sun! I had to capture it for all flower lovers – and especially my fellow tulip lovers. I invite you to enjoy Tulip Garden Treasure! (Completed April 2020)
I will always remember the Spring my tulips arrived!
My Painterly Ways
The Story of Cloudy Day Blue Ridge Georgia
My family has called Georgia home since 1997 and I continually find the beauty of our home state provides me with endless inspiration for painting.
I am happy to share a striking landscape entitled Cloudy Day Blue Ridge Georgia. This artwork captures a dramatic and fleeting moment in time during which giant clouds formed over Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Painted in the fall of 2019, I created this dramatic scene to celebrate the wonderfully unique colors and majestic beauty of North Georgia. The countryside known as Blue Ridge is a short drive from our home and has endlessly enchanted my family over the years.
In painting this truly heartfelt landscape, I was drawn to explore the cool color palette inspired by both Georgia’s sky and mountains. To offer contrast to these cool elements, I was excited to add a touch of warm, golden sunlight breaking through the clouds, to reflect off the vibrant green grass on a lush hillside.
At only ten inches high and twenty inches wide, this small sized canvas is precious to hold. Hanging on display, the viewer enjoys a scene that takes the eye many miles into the distance. My purposeful intent of selecting a small sized canvas to present this panoramic vista, made this canvas a very special painting to create. I truly enjoy offering such a scenic, sweeping view, in a size that may easily grace the wall in any home. If you too, enjoy the contrast of cool and warm light, and the tension of a large sweeping scene presented on a small scale, then Cloudy Day Blue Ridge Georgia will delight your heart too!
For your enjoyment, I have made this one-of-a-kind oil painting available as museum quality giclée exclusively through my Art Gallery Giclée Collection. You may purchase Cloudy Day Blue Ridge Georgia printed on canvas in your preferred size, 10 inches x 20 inches, or 20 inches x 40 inches. I am certain you will love the beauty of our Georgia countryside too!
Home of Cloudy Day Blue Ridge Georgia
Enjoy the heartfelt inspiration behind the creation of a new series of oil paintings entitled Summer Garden 2022. Enjoy new releases Passion Butterly Tango and Hummingbird Twilight.
Memories of Tuscany
