About the Artist

My Story

“Music and art are deep within my being. Everything in this world has beauty — from the deepest darkness to the faintest blushes of light.”

Debra Karen Werner as a younger woman, holding flowers in front of one of her large abstract paintings
Debra, in front of one of her early abstracts.

I have always created — starting from early childhood, and now, in my seventh decade of life, I am venturing out on a dream come true.

Life is a strange ball of wax. It reshapes itself as souls travel in an earthly shell and adapt to what is needed to survive. In my case, I have remodeled my life to what was essential to thrive.

While navigating the many highways and paths life's journey took me on, I never lost my need to create — music, art, storytelling, humor laced with the bittersweet yet joyful. I have a core belief that there is beauty everywhere, and that music is always abundant in all sounds and frequencies.

Enjoy my gallery. Have a heart. Enjoy the ride.

A young Debra Karen Werner with her husband and their son
Family has always been at the center of it all.

Music & Family

A house full of music

Long before the canvases, there was music. Debra sings and plays piano; her husband fills the rooms with guitar. When she closes her eyes at the keys, she sees color — hues and shapes moving with the sound.

That is where every painting begins. Each color is a note, and the people she loves are somewhere in every bright, generous mark she makes.

The Work

Color, freed from its object

A bulk of Debra's work can be described as color-field abstraction — toying with large, flat fields that free color from its objective context. Alongside the abstracts run vivid florals and still lifes, each one a small symphony of hue and rhythm.

“I gotta be me. We're not made for convention, and never will be.”

Close to Home

Painted in Fort Lauderdale

Debra works from her home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida — usually with the dog somewhere underfoot. The southern light, the garden, and the Everglades just to the west all find their way onto the canvas.

Debra's dog, a cream-colored poodle
Never far from the studio.
Debra's dog in the garden in front of her Fort Lauderdale home

Exhibitions & Showings

Selected showings

See the work in full

Browse the gallery, or reach out to ask about any piece.