Overgrown Path in the Woods, Mixed Media Impressionist Landscape

Overgrown Path in the Woods, © Sheryl Karas 2024

It's been a long time since I've done any original art. And this piece represents a new evolution where I've taken one of my hand-done pieces (oil pastel and oil pencil), scanned it into my computer, and combined it with other images in multiple layers, using multiple digital effects. So it's mixed media but the final result is digital art, available as a print. 

What I like about this piece is its ethereal, magical, quality. It reminds me of dense overgrown paths in the New England woods where I grew up. But the light coming down from the trees makes it seem like there's a fairy grove somewhere in there with elves and magical creatures just out of view.

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

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.

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.

Rebirth (Red Sand, Green Sage), Mixed Media, Acrylic and Pastel

Rebirth, © 2012 Sheryl Karas

This is inspired by Sagebrush at sunset in the red sand desert, blowing this way and that in the wind. I call it "Rebirth" for two reasons. One, Sagebrush is the first plant to reclaim the desert after it has been devastated by ranchers ripping out all the Juniper trees to graze cattle. But also, I think that rebirth can often be a chaotic process as you determine (or discover) what from your old life does not apply anymore and which way you might want to go next.

In this piece I was innovating a way to mix drawing with pastel and painting with acrylic and present it without glass. I used multiple layers of spray casein fixative and then several layers of acrylic medium and varnish. It is painted on canvas that was applied to cradled panel painted black.

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

No Time Like the Present, Acrylic Painting

No Time Like the Present, © 2014 Sheryl Karas

My current home of Chico, CA is a small town-like city surrounded by almond orchards. It's very pleasant and friendly but when I painted this painting I was feeling homesick for Santa Cruz, CA, where I used to live. The clock is a reference to the clock tower in Santa Cruz but it is on a Chico-like house to remind me to be here now. I challenged myself to use bold colors of red, yellow, teal green and purple. I was inspired by the Fauves and pop art artists like Andy Warhol and Peter Max.

The original acrylic painting on canvas is 18" x 24" and is currently available for sale.

Looking at the Possibilities, Acrylic Painting

"Looking at the Possibilities", © 2014 Sheryl Karas

The subject matter for this painting is the "City of Trees," the slogan for Chico, CA where we currently live. When my partner Paul and I first moved here we didn't actually intend to stay. Long story, but we didn't choose this place, fate did. At the time I painted this, the two of us tended to stand together (two trees) but apart from our surrounding landscape and community, constantly exploring the options we had: stay, flee, or who knows what. We're still here. It's been five years now and we really do love the landscape.

The original is acrylic on canvas, 24" by 18".