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.

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.

Awareness (Berries, Leaves and Flower Buds)

Awareness -- © 2018 by Sheryl Karas

I'm finding working with oil pastel very challenging but fun! This is my latest. I'm calling it "Awareness" because it's what I became aware of AFTER I tripped on the raised up sidewalk because I was lost in some internal drama! I'm exploring the intersection of multiple images lately in some of my work. I'm interested in the multiple levels of reality we can be aware of if we're paying attention at all, the variety of impressions our brains pick up on whether we're consciously aware or not. In this case it was the sidewalk, the sky, overhanging branches, berries, leaves and flower buds.

Contact me about the original. 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.

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.

Green Sage, Wild Grass Abstract Pastel Landscape

"Green Sage, Wild Grass", © 2017 Sheryl Karas

This was a study I did for a larger piece now hanging in the lobby of the Chico Breast Care Center. I was experimenting with techniques for creating a pastel painting that did not need to be framed under glass and this was the first one that succeeded. I tried out lots of types of marks and types of pastel in this piece, never meaning to present it for sale. Years later, I look at this and love the freedom and spontaneity in it, thinking it really does stand on its own. So I finished it and will eventually frame it (not under glass). In the meantime, prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Arts America.

Okay, this is finished now. It's 12" x 12" on cradled panel. Then I mounted it on a second 16" x 16" cradled panel painted black. It's ready to hang without framing (although I suppose you could add a frame if want to, but no point in adding glass).

Bottlebrush Flower Abstract Pastel Painting

"Bottlebrush Flower Abstract", © 2017 by Sheryl Karas

This piece was so much fun to do! Using a multiple image photograph I did before as a reference, I decided to try out my new art materials to recreate it. The image was an extreme macro (close-up) of a Bottlebrush flower with an overlay of wild grass blowing in the wind.  I liked the juxtaposition of the almost stiff pincushion-like Bottlebrush flower and the softness and movement of the wild grass. The materials were Nupastel and Pan Pastel (pretty much powdered pigment in a compact) that I applied with sponges and eye make-up applicators.

The original is done on cradled panel with multiple layers of fixative and acrylic medium so it does not need to be framed under glass. I am planning to mount and frame it without glass. In the meantime, I have prints and prints on canvas available on Fine Art America.

It's framed now! It's 12" x 12" on cradled panel mounted on a second 16" x 16" cradled panel painted black. It's ready to hang. Interested? Contact me at right.

Garden at the Pond at Twilight

Garden at the Pond at Twilight, © 2017 Sheryl Karas

In this piece I've returned to my first love — pastels! But I do it differently than most because I wanted a way to present my work without glass and a frame. That meant a lot of of research and multiple experiments to come up with a solution. I'm not going to give away all of my secrets at the moment but several top coats of fixative and acrylic varnish are involved.

The scene is a garden featuring lavender in the foreground at the edge of a pond at twilight when the light comes in low to the ground from the side. It's what photographers call the "Golden Hour"—everything seems washed in shiny gold as the sun is just about to dip below the horizon. I snapped a reference photo to remind me of what the scene looked like and added fantasy details at home.

The original is available. It's 12" x 12" on cradled panel mounted on a second 16" x 16" cradled panel painted black. Prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Art America.