Rustic - Raw - Primitive
Air Conditioned • Modern Ammenities • Eclectic Music
Natural Beauty • Texas Wildflowers • Miniature Goats
What happens at the Loop leaves the Loop with you

Find the Loop inside you

Share with fellow Artists and leave your mark at the Loop

The Art of the Loop Studio Retreat offers 2-day or 5-day inspirational and project driven workshops designed for artists of all levels, students and educators, and all of those who aspire to rediscover and enhance their creative energy.

Special private art workshop week-long retreats for parties of 4 or more are available. Please call to schedule and inquire about availability. Deposit required during season (May - September).

Artists must bring their own bedding and linens. Basically, you will need a light sleeping bag (or sheets and blankets), a pillow, a towel, and a washcloth. Bring casual summer clothes, a bathing suit and tennis shoes. An art kit is available but if you wish to work in your own medium, you are welcome to bring your personal supplies.

In the spacious air conditioned Studio at the Loop there are dormitory-style shared sleeping quarters, a common bathroom, large work areas and a kitchenette (refrigerator and microwave).

Relaxation • Rejuvenation • Exploration • Creativity • Expression

Expand your artistic expression with the freedom and expert guidance of professional artists at "Art of the Loop Studio Retreat" located in the working studio of Karen A. Dittman whose work can currently be seen at the Debra Goldstein Fine Art Gallery in Johnson City, and Fredericksburg Interiors in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Set on three acres, including a beautiful park and a wet/dry creek, The Loop provides a perfect retreat that invites you to:

Immerse yourself in the art process.
Experience laid-back rural Texas culture while enjoying the comforts of modern amenities and the relaxation that comes with country living.

Making art with fellow artists is 'The Best Time You Can Have'. You will never forget it.

Kingsland is located between the Llano and Colorado rivers, at Lake LBJ. Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake and Longhorn Caverns are within a 5 mile radius. There is an HEB within a mile from the Loop if students desire to get supplies for sandwiches and other snacks and beverages. The Studio at the Loop is a non-smoking facility.

There are many great local restaurants in the area such as Sweet Things, Splurge, The Chariot Grill and the renowned Tamale King at Buchanan Dam.

About the Artist

Karen Anderegg Dittman is an artist through and through. After earning her living in education and as an art and computer graphics instructor, she is now living her dream, working and teaching at Art of the Loop Studio Retreat.

It's always been this way for this Texas native. Growing up on a ranch in Central Texas, when Dittman wasn't doing chores she was painting, drawing, creating, building, using her art in all areas of her world. As a child she was heavily influenced by her grandfather, Daniel L. Anderegg, somewhat of an eccentric artist himself.

Dittman left Fredericksburg, TX to attend Southwestern University, in Georgetown, TX at the age of 16. She was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Houston at age 19. Soon after college it was off to Guadalajara, Mexico, where she lived and worked for several years. While there she was fortunate enough to know artists such as Alejandro Colunga and Georg Rauch, among the many who would later influence her art.

Returning to the Texas Hill Country, Dittman dove in to the world of graphic arts and publishing, working on daily newspapers and even starting her own successful monthly music magazine "Full Tilt Boogie" in San Antonio, Texas. She worked on political campaigns, art directed everything from senators to fashion shoots, all the while maintaining a thriving freelance art business, designing logos, painting and silk-screening.

She moved to California in the 1980s to art direct the "R&B Report" a respected music industry magazine and continued work in the silk-screen business. It was during the late 1980s the teaching bug bit her hard, and she began her career in post-secondary education as not only a graphics design teacher, but an administrator as well, serving as Academic Dean for Commonwealth International University in Honolulu.

Dittman moved to paradise in the mid-1990s, taking up residence on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. While there, she became deeply involved in the prison system, and began a very successful graphic design program for inmates to both rehabilitate them, give them a trade for the future and cut down printing expenses for the state by training personnel for the in-house print shop in the prison. She describes this as "one of the most educational and inspiring times of my life, inmate art is truly incredible, it's like nothing else. It's very raw, very honest. And as students, what can I say ... they're a captive audience. And I really felt like I was making a difference."

It was during this time that Dittman began her "Illustrator" art, doing intricate pieces in Adobe Illustrator on the computer and then printing them out on large format printers.

Dittman returned to the mainland in the late 1990s. She immediately resumed her teaching career. In 2001 Dittman began oil painting again, commissioned to do two large oil paintings of Karel and of his partner Andrew Howard (Los Angeles radio talk show personalities) each over 6'x4'. And then, the Virgin appeared to her, in her bedroom, on the floor in shards of glass. For a long period of time she taught by day, and created virgins in every other waking hour.

Dittman recently moved from the artistic East Village of Long Beach, CA, where she lived with her two cats Frida and Diego, anxious to pursue the remaining interpretations of the Virgin of Guadalupe and other art as it calls to her.An artist that can work in any medium, Dittman is entering one of the most prolific periods of her artistic career. She is available for private commissions and has readied her studio at the Loop for Art Retreats. Now Dittman resides just outside of Marble Falls with her four cats Frida, Diego, Bonnie and Clyde. She has two married sons: Jeremy Dittman MD, PhD lives in Boston with his wife Anmay and has recently accepted a position at Cornell Medical School in New York. Jacob Dittman and his wife Amy live with their two beautiful children, Hannah and Will in Dallas, Texas.

View Karen's Art at Art of the Virgin