Tree Frogs and Lilies

 

I'm having fun combining some of my old photos with new elements. And for some reason I want everything bright and saturated these days. That's probably been mostly true forever but especially now. I broke out of my foreboding raven stage and decided to use all the colors in my crayon box!

Prints and prints on a variety of surfaces are available on Fine Art America.

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.

Bottlebrush Abstract

Bottlebrush, © 2016 Sheryl Karas

Another Bottlebrush macro, this time layered with paint splatters to approximate the intention I had when I took the photograph. I was attracted to the blur of white anthers contrasted with the red filaments of the flower and wanted to emphasize that instead of the plant itself.

Prints and prints on canvas, etc. are available on Fine Art America.

Bottlebrush and Wild Grass Abstract

Bottlebrush and Wild Grass Abstract, © 2016 Sheryl Karas

I'm continuing with creating art with a lighter, more uplifting palette. This piece started with one of my macro photos of a Bottlebrush flower. Then I overlaid one of my photos of wild grass blowing in the wind to create an abstract photo-painting.

Prints and prints on canvas, etc. are available on Fine Art America.

Abstract Expressionist Grass, Abstract Digital Painting

Abstract Expressionist Grass, © 2016 Sheryl Karas

Another in my series of wild high desert grass dancing in the wind! This abstract was created with so many layers of photographs that I lost count. I really love how the series has evolved into something so very expressive—it's more about the wind and the dance than about the form of the grass very much now at all.

Prints and prints on canvas, etc. are available on Fine Art America.

Tangled Desert Grass on a Windy Day, © 2016 Sheryl Karas

This is another piece where I reached for a more colorful palette. My work used to be more colorful until I decided to be a "serious" artist, applied to MFA programs and chose to go in a more scholarly direction. It will be interesting to see what happens now that I have put that dream down. This piece feels transitional. It's part of a long time series of digital paintings done with multiple layered macro photographs of desert grass dancing in the wind. But I'm not thinking in terms of pleasing an MFA program anymore and the colors departed from the previous ones in the series. I did a few more after this that returned to the darker simpler palette I have been using -- I'll put at least one of those up soon -- but I'm starting to feel the urge to move back towards color.

Prints, framed and unframed, and prints on canvas or metal of this piece are available on Fine Art America.

Orchids, Cheerful Photo-Painting for a Gloomy Day

Orchids, © 2016 Sheryl Karas

I've been working too dark lately. Maybe it's a reflection of the mood I've been in, the election perhaps, and feelings about work. So I revisited an old photo and used a variety of techniques to make it more cheerful and uplifting. I'm pretty happy with it. Need to do more "pretty" things!

This piece is available as a framed or unframed print or print on canvas or metal on Fine Art America.

The Persistence of Desert Grass, Digital Abstract Art

The Persistence of Desert Grass, © 2015, Sheryl Karas

When I lived in the desert, the ground was bare and the grass grew in small clumps and was mostly dried out or dead. We longed for water and for green. Today, the Arizona high desert is a memory and, despite the drought in this region, there still exists the expanses of green I longed for. In this piece I juxtaposed one environment over another as the tests of one place overlap the present. Time and place influence us all, but somehow the grass persists and carries on.

Prints of this piece, framed or unframed or on canvas or metal, are available.

Sunset at Patrick Ranch, Digital Painting

Sunset at Patrick Ranch, © 2014 Sheryl Karas

Not far from where I live is a "living history" museum, Patrick Ranch. I was driving past there one day at sunset and I was struck by what seemed like a vast wheat field in front juxtaposed against the red sky. I've taken artistic license with the Victorian house and landscape in the back—and with the colors, of course!— but the gist of the scene, for me, was just like this.

I think this would be a fantastic image to use on a poster for them and I really should contact them about that, I guess. There is no original as this is made with digital techniques. You can find it as a framed or unframed print or print on canvas and other items multiple places. I recommend Fine Art America (Pixels.com) or Red Bubble.

I also found that this piece works really well for surface design because of its abstract nature and did it in more than one colorway for that purpose. For example, this version in red and purple and this one in shades of red and gold.

It looks especially good on this dress, I think:

And on this pillow:

Autumn Forest, Digital Painting

Autumn Forest, © 2011 Sheryl Karas

This is a mostly photographically-derived digital painting with a lot of handwork added. Fall is my favorite season and the foliage in this location was glorious. We were in the White Mountains of Arizona.

There is no original of this painting as it is a digital piece. Framed and unframed prints and prints on canvas and other items are, however, available.