TK studied drawing at the Corcoran School of Art (Washington DC) with Eugene Frederick, Bill Christenberry and Bill Newman.
At the Washington Studio School (Washington DC) she studied drawing and painting with Jo Wise Lee, Susan Yanero, Lee Newman, Caroline Tomlin-Rice, Maggie Siner, Tanja Karpovich, Susan Newman, Laura and Stan Conley.
TK also studied clay modeling with Jean Bartoli, at the Washington Studio School.

While living in Japan, TK developed an interest in Oriental cultures (Japan, China and Korea) and their esthetic values. TK studied the art of ikebana and sumi-e in Japan, developed a taste for and collected pottery from Japan, China and Korea.
TK's art is influenced by the work of Beckmann, De Kooning, Picasso, Soutine and by the painters from the Bay Area School (David Park, Paul Wonner, Elmer Bischoff, Nathan Oliveira).

The main subject and inspiration for TK is the human body, the human figure, seeking anthropomorphism in for instance pears and bottles.
Other subjects/inspirations are: the essence of being human, the melancholy of human existence, and the reduction of the complex form to its essentials.
TK also has a strong interest in portraits and self-portraits: depicting a person at a particular moment of his/her life with all the years hanging from his/her shoulders.

The important uninhibited first impression: TK uses a very personal, fast drawing technique, an almost unconscious process, to capture the first impression of a subject, which then can be the source for a painting, or an end result in itself.
Painting is usually a long process, with several, sometimes many, versions, repainted in succession. Painting is a dialogue between the painter and the painting: resulting in a snapshot of a life of a painting.
TK is also a prolific photographer, sometimes working on a theme, like images of vegetation inspired by the work of Jackson Pollock. But these photographs are seldom used as direct inspiration for paintings, since TK paints almost entirely directly from nature, to be able to feel and capture 'the essence' of her subject.

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