NipoMOoooo Cow (more…)

Artist: Karen Floyd

Sponsor: Visit Oceano and Nipomo, Trilogy at Monarch Dunes, Monarch Club & Monarch Dunes

Beneficiaries: ARTS Obispo, CMSF Heritage  Foundation &  The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County

About the Artist: 

Born in Long Beach California in 1954, my earliest art experience was: freelance horse drawer extraordinaire. Well, I just drew a lot of that animal at an early age, about 7 or 8. I’ve been an artist all my life, but in a large array of medias and kinds of work. All the ways of creating art are interesting to me. The most relevant thing to mention relating to this competition though is that I can work large and with accuracy on an uneven surface. In high school, for instance, my senior assignment was working all semester on giant paper maché frog, which I carried with me well into adulthood. After High School, I obtained a BA in Illustration from Cal State Fullerton, during which time I had been hired as a caricature artist by Disneyland, this is where I met and married my husband Bill (we are married 41 years now). In the 1980’s, even as a mom, I found many ways to continue creating. I found murals very exciting. I did my children’s walls for many years, which blossomed into doing murals for five years at my church in Bellflower. I completed around 7 rooms – each was around 25’x25’x10’ ceilings- every inch of wall space I painted to my hearts delight. From landscapes to cartons, and serious subjects – I painted.

Fast forward to 1997, I began a career in teaching art for Anaheim Union High School district and entered a while new world where I stretched myself even more as an artist and teacher, creating lessons in many mediums for High School level. I created whatever examples I would need for whatever class I would be teaching – every media was explored: Ceramics, wire sculpturing, drawing, painting, printmaking, paper maché, as well as stained glass window making. Now in retirement I am putting myself out there as my own artist. I am still doing large pastels and paintings. I took part in the chalk festival and have been in several local shows. I create a lot of sculptural ceramic pieces, and I am mostly exploring organic subject matter reconfiguring and interpreted in new points of view that I hope will make my viewers take a longer look.

I still teach because I still love it, all ages and abilities, because everyone is an artist, and for me it is a life long love.

Why did you paint NipoMOoooo Cow?

When I moved here (Trilogy Monarch Dunes, Nipomo, CA) I was worried I had gone too far out from the familiar land I had spent sixty years of my life in – Southern California. Now, I feel I am in heaven. Everything has slowed down, in a delightful way, I am that cow grazing through this beautiful area. I am moo-ving slowly, taking my time and I am in no particular hurry. I am enjoying this slowed down, trimmed down existence on the Nipomo Mesa; the food, the people, the wine and the sports! I am on a permanent vacation and now I can summer-ize all with my cow!