Big Chico Creek in Autumn, Oil Pastel Painting

Big Chico Creek in Autumn, © 2021 by Sheryl Karas

In this oil pastel I've deviated from my more recent series based on multiple layer photography to return to my first love of impressionist landscapes. I did this one over a couple of weeks and watched myself get a little more expressive as the time went on. And I liked it! I think I'll keep exploring this direction. It made the environment come alive. The setting is Big Chico Creek as it flows through Bidwell Park in Chico not far from One Mile Park. It was Autumn and fallen leaves were in the water and on the banks of the river.

The original is 20" x 20" on cradled panel with painted black sides. (Contact me if interested.) Prints and prints on canvas and other materials or matted and framed are available through Fine Arts America.

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.

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.

Art Show at Tin Roof Bakery Cafe All February

I have a solo art show starting Sunday at the Tin Roof Bakery & Cafe at 627 Broadway St #170, Chico, CA for the whole month of February! The Tin Roof is our favorite cafe in town -- for real, we're there almost every week. And we often really enjoy the art exhibits there. I'll be showing mostly my acrylic and mixed media (pastel and acrylic) paintings. If you live near Chico, come on by, grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich or pastry (the best in town) and see my art! (And yes, it will be for sale.)

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.

Storm Drain with Autumn Leaves and Shadows, New Oil Pastel Painting

Storm Drain with Autumn Leaves and Shadows, © 2018 Sheryl Karas

My latest oil pastel. I'm exploring the abstract in "real" life . . . except this isn't real. I combined 2-3 photographs, all done in the same photoshoot, to come up with a starting place for this piece. This is a progression of the pieces I did to break out of artist's block by looking for things to paint in my own boring apartment complex. I loved this rusty storm drain with bits of dead leaves stuck in it but I wanted it much more colorful. I also like another storm drain that I used in an earlier painting and thought I'd combine them. I guess it appeals to the graphic artist in me. It was also a challenge and great fun to draw and paint, despite using the composite photo as an underlayer. I eliminated and added things as I painted, tried to see inside the original photograph on my computer to emphasize what I saw there. Fun, fun, fun!

Update: I just got this piece into the National All-Media Juried Show at the Chico Art Center! It starts September 7th and runs through the end of the month.

SOLD !!!  Prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Art America.

Down the Drain -- Oil Pastel Painting

"Down the Drain", Oil Pastel, © Copyright 2017 by Sheryl Karas

Happy New Year! This was the last piece I completed in 2017. It came out of the series I did based on what I could see around my usually uninspiring apartment complex. I was trying to break out of a creative slump and gave myself the assignment to either find something interesting to paint or to make something interesting out of what I could find. This is a storm drain with bits of fallen leaves stuck to it. I don't know why that appealed to me but it was really fun to do. Especially using unusual colors and my new box of really creamy professional oil pastels. It definitely broke me out of the slump I was in! May all our troubles go down the drain as we embark on this New Year!

This piece is 12" x 12" oil pastel with acrylic gel medium on cradled wood panel. The original is available -- contact me through the link above if you're interested. Prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Arts America.

Experimental Printmaking

"Don Quixote", Linocut over Monoprint, © 2015 Sheryl Karas

I took a printmaking class a year or so ago. It was SO much fun! My favorite technique was linocut but then I tried combining it with more freeform techniques like monoprinting. I went from being obsessed about perfection to being delighted by unexpected surprises. The image depicts Don Quixote, the Man of La Mancha dreaming the impossible dream. Prints on canvas are available in my Etsy shop. I also have this print on pillows and tote bags.

Sidewalk and River Rocks, Landscape in Oil Pastel and China Marker

"Sidewalk and River Rocks", © 2017 Copyright by Sheryl Karas

This is the second in a series I'm working on right now based on an assignment I gave myself to try to find something interesting in or make something interesting out of whatever I could see walking around my apartment complex. Mostly I found myself staring at the ground beneath my feet. This is the sidewalk and drought tolerant California "landscaping" done in oil pastel and China Marker. A real challenge, actually, because I'm using a brand new box of expensive professional oil pastels and I didn't realize what a difference that quality would make! It's like using a completely new medium compared to the inexpensive ones I liked as a kid. But once I got over the shock of using something so creamy and blendable I really got excited about it. These are Caran D'Ache Neopastels.

I have a few more experiments left on this piece because I want to display this without framing it behind glass and I really do not know how this is going to work with the acrylic gel medium I plan to use. I figured I better photograph it before I take the next step so the original isn't available yet (and might get ruined!). But prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Art America.

And, oh! It did not get ruined—it looks great! Contact me if you're interested in the original. It's 12" x 12" on cradled panel mounted on 16" x 16" cradled panel painted black. It's ready to hang without framing.

River Rocks and Sidewalk, Landscape in Nupastel and Pastel Pencil

"Sidewalk and River Rock", © 2017 Copyright by Sheryl Karas 

So is this a drawing or a painting? I thought I was drawing, but when the entire piece is covered in pastel it's called a painting. So I guess that's what this is. I really enjoyed doing it. It's been years since I just sat and drew. It came out of an assignment I gave myself to break out of a creative block. I was to walk around my uninspiring apartment complex and find something interesting to paint or make something interesting out of what I saw. This is drought tolerant California landscaping. Contact me if you're interested in the original: 12" x 12" on cradled panel mounted on 16" x 16" cradled panel painted black, ready to hang without framing. Prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Art America.