In recent years, Karen has become dedicated to supporting and uplifting others, and to erasing the stigma around mental illness, doing so by sharing her own stories and experiences with such through her abstract paintings. Being diagnosed late in life with autism (at age 45 in 2021) gave her the answers she had been seeking all her life as to why she felt so different and lost her entire life and why she had developed significant challenges with PTSD, depression and anxiety. Due to the confusion which autism causes for Karen in regards to identifying, processing and communicating her emotions, painting is the only way in which Karen feels she can express herself fully. It is her visual language, a multisensory experience involving the coming together mind, body and spirit to create an intricately complex narrative of inner strength and wisdom.

Colour and mark-making are the vehicles by which Karen conveys themes of vulnerability, change, courage, resilience, determination, and triumph through her abstract artworks. To Karen, each colour she chooses represents a specific emotion or thought, as does the manner in which each is applied. Painting primarily in acrylics, she works spontaneously and quite quickly yet with great purpose and thought, testament to her unrelenting obsession and natural ability with colour. Paint is often applied using contrasting techniques, ranging from thin watery washes to thick impasto. Flamboyant, vivid hues and sorbet tones play harmoniously against each other, laid down in more broad planes of luminous colour before being contrasted by expressive mark-making. The resulting works are alive with character, rich in emotion, and imbued with layers of meaning and heartfelt story-telling.