Ken Austin, NWS, has been living in Orlando, FL for over 20 years. Prior to moving to Orlando, Ken was president of the Watercolor Art Society - Houston, TX, and served on the Board of Directors there for over six years. Over the past 15 years, Ken has taught lessons and presented demos, lectures and workshops privately and also taught classes for Seminole Community College for two years. In 1996 Ken founded the Central Florida Watercolor Society, which has grown to a membership of almost 300. He is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and the Florida Watercolor Society, and his workshops are in demand from Florida to West Virginia to Michigan to Texas.

Ken’s main interest in watercolor is in the exploration of color, pattern and expressive painting. Equally at home with representational or abstract painting, traditional or more experimental techniques, Ken’s work has lately focused on two bodies of work: a series of paintings of monumental forms of women in domestic settings, a group of abstracted, color-intensive still lifes, and various subject specific series (Dark Flower Planet and Mountain Music). He has also recently produced giclee prints of various works.

Ken was, for ten years, a gallery artist with the Albertson-Peterson Gallery of Winter Park, FL, and for the last five years has been represented by Comma Gallery in Orlando, Florida, where he is a resident studio artist. His teaching experience is broad, including stints with the University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Seminole Community College, and currently, with Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida. He is in demand as a workshop instructor all over the country.

With a background as an architect and city planner, Ken continues to explore art and produce paintings which are included in national juried competitions, have won praise and prizes from nationally known artists and jurors and are in many private and corporate collections from California to Massachusetts.

Ken still lives in Orlando, where he practices grandfathering, banjo picking, and making art every chance he gets.