Karen Libecap

Shop still life painter Karen Libecap's prints of her tiny watercolor paintings:

Karen Libecap

When I was little I loved tiny things. I would write stories as small as I could and do tiny illustrations to go with them. I often got into trouble in school for writing too small. I grew up in an artistic environment with my mother who loved to paint and sew, and my father who was an engineer. It made sense for me to want to pursue and education in art when I went to college. However, those plans changed a bit when I was told I was not good enough to go into the illustration program. So I went a different route and studied graphic design and stopped painting for many years. 

In 2009 I started painting again and tried everything. Oils, pastels, pencils, pen and ink, but was having a hard time finishing the larger pieces. I thought if I did small paintings I would be able to finish and it was like I had finally found my calling. I love how I can be super detailed and have literally unlimited subject matter and be able to finish before losing interest (thank you ADHD!) When I started doing tiny paintings they would take me about an hour to finish. but the more I do, the more detail I try to get in them. So now they take anywhere from 4 hours to a couple of days depending on how much detail and how much coffee I've had.