Caroline Kwas is a native of Long Island, NY, and learned early the peace and solitude that comes from nature as she roamed the fields, woods, and beautiful Atlantic beaches which would guide her later artistic pursuits. A chance sighting of the Arizona Fine Art Expo call-for-artists quickly changed her direction from full-time teacher to full-time artist. She was accepted to the three month show, and fell in love with the Southwest. The wide open vistas began to influence the direction of her art, and she began to explore abstraction of natural forms. Inspired by masters such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Maynard Dixon, Edgar Payne and Ed Mell, she earned recognition within the National Parks System, where she was Artist-in-Residence at Mojave National Preserve in 2016. Winters in the Sonoran Desert continue to inspire her paintings, and at her home in Stillwater, Nevada, where the high desert and its surrounding mountains meet water, she has found the best of both worlds for being a landscape painter.