Karin H. Leonard, founder and managing director of PaintTheParks.com, is an award winning impressionist painter, and professional coach and consultant, who has been exhibiting and selling her work since 1980. Karin specializes in painting luminous landscapes in oil and pastel, en Plein Air, as well as in her studio. Greatly inspired by the early California Impressionists, she attempts to reflect the radiance of color and light in the landscape.
Karin’s work has been featured at select galleries and numerous shows, in calendars as well as on a wine label. Born and raised in Germany, she studied Fine Arts in her native country, in Boulder, CO and Santa Cruz, CA. Locally, Karin has studied with noted painters such as Brian Blood and Laurie Kersey of Carmel, and David Gallup of Southern California. Karin served as the president of the Santa Cruz Oil Painters for two years.
“Painting is such a gift in my life. I have always loved the out-of-doors, and it gives me great joy to paint “en-plein-air.” Born and raised in Germany, the visual arts were part of my life from early on. I have studied drawing and painting in Germany, Colorado, and California, and continue to learn every time I paint. I feel fortunate to have been actively engaged in the visual arts all my life. My work has been featured in selected galleries and I am a regular participant in “Open Studios”. I have been living and painting in Santa Cruz, California since 1986.
Selected Exhibitions
Spring Lupine, Toro Park
2016 PAJARO VALLEY: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE (Juried)
2015 – Honorable Mention, Capitola Plein Air Festival (Juried)
2013 – 2014 CENTRAL COAST LANDSCAPES: Celebrating Nature in Painting, Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History (Juried)
2012 PAINTING OUR PARKS, Santa Cruz County Arts Collective, Santa Cruz Oil Painters (Juried)
2012 First Place in Professional Painting, Santa Cruz County Fair Art Exhibit
2011 Solo Show, Santa Cruz Art League
2011 Art League Member Show, Santa Cruz Art League
2010 Open Studios Tour Santa Cruz , (juried show)
2010 Los Pajaros, Pajaro Valley Gallery, Watsonville, (juried show)
2010 Connecting with the Land – Painting the Santa Cruz Land Trust ~ Pajaro Valley Gallery, (juried show)
2010 Art League Member Show, Santa Cruz Art League
2009 Irreplacable Places: Contemporary Landscape Painters of California California Statewide Exhibit (Juried), Art League, S.C.
2008 Luminous California (Juried), County Government Center, S. C.
2008 Michael’s on Main, solo show, Soquel, CA
2008 Luminous Landscapes Celebrating California, solo show, Costanoa Resort, Pescadero
2008 Bottle Signing, Wine Tasting & Artshow – Karin’s painting “Wild Garden by the Sea” featured on wine label, Roudon Smith Winery, Scotts Valley, CA
2007 Paintings by Karin H. Leonard & Sandra Cherk Santa Cruz County Center
2007 Santa Cruz County Fair, Honorable Mention
2007 Boats, Beaches and Boardwalk, Santa Cruz Oil Painters, Mountain Arts Center, Ben Lomond
2006- 2007 Karlene Dahlmeier’s Gallery, S.C., CA
2006 Santa Cruz County Fair, Honorable Mention
2006 Chaminade, S. C., CA, Solo Show
Affiliations