Raven at the Beach

 

The "Raven Interludes" continue. This series is allowing me to explore new ways to combine digital with painting-like effects. I recently scanned a large collection of handpainted paper, wallpaper, and other decorative papers of all sorts that I have been collecting for 20-30 years. I used to use them in cut-paper quilts but now I'd like to collage them into paintings, at least digitally. This is one of my first forays into this kind of work. It's fun for me to see the handpaints in the bird's feathers and in the fence rail. The background combines multiple photographs with digital painting effects. 

Prints and prints on canvas and other materials are available on Fine Art America.

Kuan Yin in the Lotus, Digital Art

I've been in a bit of a creative lull (creative slump?). This piece helped (although I may not continue in this direction). I decided to try something quite different than I usually do in my digital art using similar techniques: multiple images and digital painting combined with multiple layering effects.

The idea here is Kuan Yin in the Lotus. In China, Kuan Yin is as known the Goddess of Compassion. She is often depicted sitting cross-legged in a large Lotus flower. 

This piece is available as a print on various surfaces and products on Fine Art America.

Orchid Dreams

 

I wanted something bright and cheerful tonight, a little tropical in feeling. This is a digital art piece composed with multiple photographs I took of an orchid plant from different angles. Prints, framed prints, and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic, etc. are available.

Mid-Summer Botanical Abstract

 

I'm exploring a theme in my work that has headed into strange territory lately. I've been breaking the "rule" of simplifying my work and instead add more complexity. I would say that my subject matter is complexity—the multiplicity of life experience and the complexity inherent in the natural world. Nothing exists separately from anything else. Everything in the natural world lives in relationship. And we don't experience the world like a camera that freezes whatever we point it at and leaves out the rest. We take in multiple impressions at a single time, especially as we move through an environment, sometimes combined with the thoughts in our head which may be focussed on something entirely different than what is actually there. 

I add multiple images together—sometimes different angles of the same scene, sometimes unrelated images that I imagine might belong together. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I reject more ideas than not. It's an experience of discovery—trying unusual things I was certainly never taught to do in three different photo-editing programs and seeing what develops. That's what I like about the process—I wind up seeing things in my work I didn't know where there before. Or the process itself creates something new I would not have expected. It adds an element of surprise and wonder that was otherwise absent, for me, in most of the art I have tended to do before.

In this piece I'm using multiple layered photographs of flowers and other garden plants (all my original work) with multiple digital effects to create an abstract landscape. Prints, framed prints, and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic, etc. are available.

The Mysterious Meadow Forest

 

Imagine that you're walking in a deep dark forest. Now imagine that you are a mouse and the forest is actually a meadow of plants. That's what this is. It's made of multiple layered photos, combined with multiple effects. Prints, framed prints, prints on canvas, metal, acrylic, etc. are available.

Pastel Meadow Abstract

 

This very experimental piece is composed of 3-4 original photos of the same open meadow that used to exist across the street from where I live. It's all filled in with houses now but the photos still exist. In this piece I was trying to show both the movement of the plants in the wind and the details of the plants when the wind momentarily stops. Prints, framed prints, and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic, etc. are available.

The Colors of Grass

 

I have memories of myself as a tiny child sitting in the grass, tearing up clumps, and looking at it. I loved doing that and could entertain myself for what seemed like hours (from a toddler's perspective). I guess the experience stuck with me because here I am sharing photos of grass AGAIN. Prints, framed prints, and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic, etc.

The Battle Between Grass and Fence Crystalized

 

Perfect for this hot not-even-summer day. Same series, same photos, composed in a different way. Prints, framed prints, and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic, etc. 

New Etsy Shop for my Art

 

I'm creating an Etsy shop for prints, ready to hang prints on stretched canvas, and —eventually—originals. I don't know quite yet how to handle shipping on my finished work yet, but I'm almost there. I just need to package one for shipping and weigh it so I know what's involved and what it will cost. In the meantime, there is plenty to do just adding prints. You can check out my progress and favorite my shop to get Etsy notifications when I add something new.

Waiting for the Ride to Begin, Digital Art

"Waiting for the Ride to Begin", © Sheryl Karas 2019

More from my Santa Cruz Boardwalk series! This one actually features the iconic "small town" water towers of Chico combined with people hanging stationary on the Sea Swings at the Boardwalk. The idea I had comes from the feeling Chico State students (and others) have here of just waiting for their lives to begin. The water towers dominate because the small town aspect is the dominant factor in Chico. Some people love them because they love the history! And I appreciate the history, too. But the same feeling of being stuck in time can also bring a stuckness to the place. It just depends on how you feel!

The original digital piece would be 30" x 40" unframed.  It's available in multiple sizes on Fine Art America as a print, matted and framed, and as a print on canvas, wood, metal or acrylic.

Giant Sea Swings, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Digital Art

 

Giant Sea Swings, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, © 2021 by Sheryl Karas

I've always loved this ride at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Simple concept, lots of fun, and nostalgic in how it was designed. Childhood joys come to mind, only more fun!

This piece was done by layering multiple photographs I took of this ride over the years with multiple layering effects. The original is 20" x 20" and I imagine it presented behind front-mounted acrylic although I have not framed or mounted it yet. Prints, prints on canvas, metal, and wood are available through Fine Arts America.

Grabbing the Brass Ring at the Looff Carousel in Santa Cruz

Grabbing the Brass Ring at the Looff Carousel, © 2021 by Sheryl Karas

This is a series I've been wanting to return to for awhile. I used to live in Santa Cruz and have taken many photos at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk over the years with the idea of doing a series of paintings. I actually did do one I was happy with but then my art started to go in another direction. I've been doing nothing but oil pastel plant life pieces for quite some time. But now I find myself wanting to revisit the Boardwalk idea, only this time as a digital artist combining multiple images using a variety of layers in one piece.

This one features three young girls trying to catch the brass ring while riding the Looff Carousel. The idea is to grab one and then attempt to throw the ring into the clown's mouth not much further around. It takes a lot of skill, luck, and practice to actually succeed. If you do, bells ring and the clown's eyes light up.

What I wanted to capture in this piece was the dizzying excitement of carousel horse riding as sport! Also, for me, that this is a memory so it's faded and layered with multiple memories converging on one scene.

The original piece is 20" x 20." I'm thinking about presenting it behind a thick acrylic face mount. But you can also buy a print or print on canvas, metal, or wood through Fine Art America.

Iris on the Trail, Oil Pastel Painting

Iris on the Trail, © 2021 by Sheryl Karas

I have thought this many times before but I suspect this might be the last in my oil pastel plant-life series. Or at least for awhile. This piece has multiple levels of meaning. On the most mundane level it depicts an experience I had walking through a dark wooded trail after a rain. I was aware of tiny flowers and small leaves that had opened up because of the rain. And then I turned a corner and in a shaft of light was the most amazing and large wild Iris I had ever seen, growing right on the very edge of the trail. But I'm also a flower essence practitioner and I know that the Iris is used by people, especially artists, who want to inspire their creativity and artistic expression. Ever since I did this piece I've been feeling pulled to do something else next, perhaps a brand new series in a different medium. (I actually got started on that this week—I'll post those next.)

The original of this piece is 12" x 12" on cradled panel with sides painted black. I don't plan to mount this one right now. I think it might look best with a lighter treatment. Contact me if you're interested. Prints and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic or wood are available on Fine Art America.

In the Weeds Again Revisited, Oil Pastel Painting

In the Weeds Again, © 2021 by Sheryl Karas

I have done at least eight versions of this same patch of meadow plants. I like the undulating forms of the stems and branches of this plant as it grew tangled upon itself and blew in the breeze. I also like the glinting golden light caused by the setting sun hitting the scene from an almost horizontal angle. This version is done in oil pastel and oil colored pencils. 

The original is 12" x 12" on cradled panel with black painted sides. Unlike most of the other pieces in this series I have not decided to mount this one. I think it needs a lighter treatment, perhaps a floater frame. Contact me if you're interested. Prints and prints on canvas, metal, acrylic and wood are available on Fine Art America. 

Spring Meadow on the Trail

 

I draw and paint this same spot on a trail I walk down near my house in every season. It's so full of life and abundance in just a tiny space. Good reminder of life's ability to regenerate itself over and over again. Biodiversity to the max!

Contact me about the original (currently unframed, oil pastel and acrylic on cradled panel). Prints, print on canvas, etc. are available on Fine Art America.

Springtime Emerging

I finished this one a few months ago but I'm just getting around to framing it now. It's probably my favorite of all the ones in this series yet! These are magnolia flowers just coming into bloom from more than one angle combined. I'm enjoying exploring a contemporary version of cubism. It allows me to show motion and the concept of portraying the multiple things we as humans notice in an environment that a single snapshot could never express. I'm not sure if I plan to sell this one except as prints. For the time being I'm keeping it for my private collection. It's mixed media but mostly oil pastel.

Springtime Grasses on the Path

This is my first experiment using oil pastel pencils and oil pastel. I have techniques for getting sort of fine lines with oil pastel using stumps but pencils are so much more efficient. This is yet another in what seems like an endless fascination with grasses and other wild meadow plants found along the nature path Paul and I walk down several times a week. The original is 12" x 12" on cradled panel. Contact me about the original. Prints, prints on canvas, and products made from this image are available through Fine Art America.

New England Woods, Impressionist Oil Pastel Painting

"New England Woods." I shot the photo I used for reference on a visit back to see my family quite a long time ago, always intending to do an impressionist-style painting. The time was near sunset when the light slants in sideways and bathes even a dark pine forest like this with golden light. The stone wall is typical in New England woods. They're usually crumpled and falling apart, left over from colonial days when this area would have been farmed. This is the largest oil pastel on cradled panel I've done yet-- 18" x 18" and 2" deep. The original is available directly from me. I also have prints and prints on canvas on Fine Art America.

Into the Weeds, Oil Pastel Painting

"Into the Weeds", © 2019 by Sheryl Karas

I'm varnishing this one tonight. I'm calling it "Into the Weeds." It's oil pastel on 12" x 12" cradled panel. I think of it as a rabbit's view of the wild grasses along the path that Paul and I walk down several times a week. I had fun with the color on this—not at all realistic and yet realistic in effect, at least to me.
SOLD!!

"Winter Branches, Summer Soil", © 2019 by Sheryl Karas

I've been remiss. I finished this piece months ago but neglected to post it here. I did an earlier version of this as a purely digital creation. It's multiple image photography of the trees I can see outside my bedroom window in the light of a street lamp. I liked it but it never felt "finished" to me. I wanted to remove a few things, emphasize others. And I wanted to make it glow, the way I see it so many nights when those lights turn on. So I printed it large (36" x 36") and painted over it with metallic paint. The original is currently available directly through me. Prints and prints on canvas are available through Fine Art America.