In Her Element
Excerpt from élan Magazine Article By Mary Awosika
February 2009
See Original Article
Karen Kozojet Ching believes it’s possible that she may have been a landscape artist or an interior designer in another life. She keeps an impeccably designed home that’s fit for a spread in a home décor magazine, but what makes Karen feel most at home these days is her commitment to painting. She’s constantly thinking about the layering of colors in nature and ways in which her technique as a painter can evolve.
Karen feels free as an artist because she’s painting full-time for the first time since her days as a student at James Madison University where she majored in business and art.
Working primarily in oil, Karen also has extensive experience in pen- and-ink, watercolor and acrylic. Currently, she’s focused on exploring her technique, but in a free- flowing way with no boundaries and restrictions, she says.
Karen considers her style these days as impressionistic–a departure from the realism that marked her early watercolors. And she prefers to work from her imagination and the inspiration she gains from nature rather than creating still lifes or traditional portraits.
In addition to working out of Studio 508 at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Karen displays her paintings in The Loft Gallery in Occoquan. She contributed two pieces of public art for the Fairfax Library Foundation’s 2008 Art in the Pages project.
“I haven’t done abstract work,” says Karen, “but I’m excited about where I’ll go in the studio. I start with a photo just for the idea, but the painting strokes take on a life of their own.”
Karen’s interest in painting emerged when she moved to Germany with her husband who was stationed there nearly 20 years ago. With each relocation to another base, she focused her energies on the interior of her home. These efforts, in turn, led to gardening and eventually influenced the type of scenery she would paint in her first series of drawings and watercolors.
Every time the family moved to a new city, Karen found herself pursuing a new style of painting. She was frequently commissioned to create house portraits, primarily paintings of the commanding officer’s 
home given as a farewell gift upon the officer’s retirement. She still takes on commissions of one or two house portraits every year for military acquaintances.
For many years, the family’s frequent moves and Karen’s full-time work in marketing hindered the development and growth of her artistic style. But all that changed in 2006 when her husband retired from the military.
“I’m fortunate to be painting full-time now,” says Karen. “It’s so exciting and I’m clicking all the time. In these two years, I’ve really developed and grown.”
Of the numerous examples of Karen’s work scattered around her Fairfax Station home, some are realistic watercolors, such as “The Whalehead Club,” which depicts a scene in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Other more impressionistic works, including “The Flower Market,” recall her travels to France.
Karen prefers the richness of the bold oil colors that jump off the canvas over the muted tones of her watercolor landscapes. “It was really fun to get more into dabs of color,” she says. “You can’t get this texture with watercolor.”
The transition from watercolor to oil has helped Karen achieve a more contemporary style in her landscapes, seascapes and garden paintings. And her output has been more prolific, too. Within two months of her 2007 trip to France, Karen completed a twenty-piece landscape series depicting villages, pastures and other scenes.
Even though she strives for productivity, Karen only works in three-hour blocks at a time. The routine, she says, “keeps the work fresh, especially with impressionism–you don’t want to be mechanical.”
When Karen finally returns to a particular piece, whether it’s that same day or weeks later, she is able to bring new vibrancy to the canvas. “The strokes have to show positive energy,” she says.
Hoping to further her plein air painting and continue experimenting with color, Karen believes she’s found her rhythm and she’s happy to spend each day fulfilling her passion.
For more information about Karen’s work, visit www.karenching.com. Details on activities, events and classes at Workhouse Arts Center can be found at www.workhousearts.org.