Is finding artwork for your home stressful or joyful?? I can help!

I know that it can be a scary thing to purchase original artwork for your home, and want you to know that I offer a couple of different services that can help.  I want you to feel comfortable purchasing artwork from me, so I will do my best to make that process smooth and easy. 

Firstly, I can bring a few different pieces to your home, if you live in the Calgary area, for you to try out for up to a week, to see if it brings you the joy you were hoping for. Just let me know which pieces you might be interested in, and we can set up a time for a visit (masked and distanced of course). This lets you try it before you buy it!

Another thing that I can do, is to send you a photo of what a piece might look like in the spot you are wanting to fill in your home. You simply email me a photo of your room and let me know what pieces you might be interested in. With the magic of digital editing, I can superimpose the work on the wall so you can get a good idea of what the work would look like. 

The painting below is called "Magic Kingdom", and it is 24x30" acrylic on gallery (deep) canvas. I wonder what it would look like in your home???

You can see more of my art on my new website at https://www.sharonlynnwilliams.com. Please let me know if there is anything there that interests you!! ❤️

See you soon!

Sharon

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Jane Davies Monoprint Collage Online Workshop Review

In November I signed up to take Jane Davies online workshop called "Monoprint Collage" with two of my students. We decided it would be fun to take the class together and have weekly joint painting sessions in order to spur each other on to greatness finishing well. I thought I would share some of the paintings I made over the 6 week class and some observations I made during the process.

The class began with 2 lessons on making collage papers with the Gelli Plate.  We learned all kinds of techniques to use with the Gelli plate including using stencils, rainbow rolls, manipulating paint, using resists such as string, and multiple layerings. Here are just a few of the papers I made, out of the nearly one hundred we made. You will have to click on the link to see the papers at a larger size. All papers were made on 80# Sulphite Drawing Paper.

In lesson 3 , we made paintings with our collage papers, cut into squares or rectangles. The challenge was to balance the positive and negative spaces, and to use the pattern in a way that would encourage the viewers eye to roam all over the page. Here is an example of 3 of my finished collages.

I was pleased to be able to make a successful composition with only 4 collage pieces!

In lesson 4 we used 'orb' shapes out of our collage papers and the challenge was to paint an interesting background behind them, and add elements (scribble or more collage) to make a finished piece. Here is my favourited of the bunch I made -all 8x8":

In lesson 5, we began by printing directly from the Gelli plate onto our substrate. either before or after adding collage, and playing with opaque and transparent paint layers. So it was print, mask, print, glaze with opaque or transparent paint and then do whatever it took to make a finished work.  These are 3 of the ones I did, all 8x10":

In the last lesson, we began by printing and then adding collage, stenciling, glazing and opaque layering as well as adding linear elements and whatever else we felt led to do. Here are process shots of 4 of the 7 paintings I made.

  

A goal I had at the start of the workshop was to get more minimalistic in my approach, which you can see I failed miserably at. This goes to support my mantra that my body of work is called "Products Of A Busy Mind"!! Jane did a wonderful job of presenting the class, with a PDF of instructions along with 1-2 videos per lesson. The class had a private blog page so that we could post our work, which multiplied the learning seeing what other people did. It was fun to comment and receive comments on each others work, as well as Jane commenting on each of our posts. I learnt so much in the class, and I now know my Gelli plate will not be relegated to making papers for collage only. If you have an opportunity to take an online (or live) class from Jane, I highly recommend it. You can view Jane's great website which contains her wonderful artwork, an amazing blog and tons of free tutorials on her methods.

Enjoy!
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New Acrylic Explorations by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Nest", 8x10" acrylic on clayboard
SOLD

In April I was thrilled to study with Linda Kemp, a wonderful artist from Ontario. She is a very accomplished artist who's primary medium is watercolour (she's the master of negative painting!) and now is working in acrylic in a similar way, but with the addition on opaque paint. I have never used Ampersand's clayboard before and found it an interesting but expensive surface.

"Koi Pond", 15 x 15" acrylic on canvas mounted on 16x16" gallery wrap canvas
$625
Please click here to purchase

This one is built out of many, many layers of opaque and transparent paint. I like the movement in it as well as the irridescent glaze on the underwater fish.

"Leaf Patterns", 14 x 14" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas
SOLD

Another one with multiple layers and glazing, this time on a canvas that I had textured with varying thickness and splatters of gesso, in order to add some surface interest to the painting. I really enjoyed the play of transparent with the opaque areas and the depth that this technique brings.

"Summer Evening", 14 x 14" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas
$595, painted around edges so no frame required
Please click here to purchase

This is the last painting of this series. After making a very involved and visually textured surface, I began to see some tree shapes in the washes. I went with that idea and painted the sky and water, leaving the trees. Got to love negative painting, especially when it turns out so positively great!!

Enjoy!
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Sometimes it takes a long time!!!

"Tree Patterns", 15 x15" acrylic on illustration board
SOLD -finally!!

This is a painting that I did in 2009, and it just sold in my Edmonton show. Sometimes it goes like that -you pull out an old piece that you haven't yet destroyed because you felt it had some merit, put it in a show, and finally the owner finds it there.  I have heard it said that there is an owner for every painting, and it just takes time for the two of them to find each other. Perhaps this used to be true, but I think there are so many painters showing their work out there, that there are far more paintings than buyers these days.

I have a hard time keeping old unsold work after it has been on the rounds of every show I can think of. I destroy some,  but those I really like I either unframe and try to sell them at a lower price, or offer them framed as donations to worthwhile causes. But some I just can't bear to part with, especially if I have had a frame made specifically for the painting, as in this case.

This painting is done on a textured gesso surface, and then fluid acrylics are washed on the surface to see where the magic happens. It also has washes of dilute Irridescent Copper in palaces -I love the way it separates into green and gold in a wash.

Looking at it again, I still like it, and am now especially glad I didn't toss it : )

Enjoy!
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"Three Sisters", acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Three Sisters", 9x 12" acrylic painting
SOLD

I did this acrylic version of the famous Three Sisters in Canmore from a photo I took along the Bow River in late fall. It was interesting doing it in full body acrylic instead of my usual oil paint, and was quite happy with the results. The painting is currently in my show at Gallery 109 in High River.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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