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.

Caught in a Web Between Time and Space, (Berries in a Net), New Oil Pastel Painting

© Copyright 2018 by Sheryl Karas

I'm playing in this piece with combining multiple impressions seen on the same walk: berries on a tree, plastic netting falling down. The berries in real life were not in the net. This is an invented image. But I like the juxtaposition of natural and manmade, a barrier being warped by the weight of the berries and the impact of space and the passage of time. 

The original piece is 12" x 12" oil pastel and acrylic gel medium on cradled panel mounted to 16" x 16" on another cradled panel painted black. It's called "Caught in a Web Between Time and Space." Contact me for more information. Prints, prints on canvas, and other printed items made from this piece are available on Fine Art America. 

Chamomile On The Path, New Oil Pastel Painting

"Chamomile on the Path", © 2018 Sheryl Karas

Funny how things go. I did this painting months ago but set it aside because I wasn't comfortable with the surreal way it turned out. I won't say that was entirely unintentional—I was playing around with combining multiple images and angles of the same piece of landscape. But I was focussed on the tiny wild Chamomile flowers on the path across from my apartment and Chamomile is for relaxing, relieving tension and sleep. This looked way too intensely colored for a feeling like that. But my partner Paul felt differently! He said that a good night's sleep would send him off to dreamland and that's what this piece symbolized to him. Well, sure, why not? So it's back in my "good graces" now and available. The original piece is 12" x 12" oil pastel and acrylic gel medium on cradled panel mounted to 16" x 16" on another cradled panel painted black. Contact me for more information. Prints and other printed items made from this piece are available in on Fine Art America.

Sagebrush Sanctuary, Surreal Landscape in Oil Pastel

Sagebrush Sanctuary, © 2018 by Sheryl Karas

In this oil pastel painting I went for a pretty unusual viewpoint. You are in the crawl space underneath a Desert Sagebrush plant where a rabbit or other tiny creature might live. Seed pods of wild grasses swing in the wind above your head. You are looking through the vegetation at the sunlight coming through the top of the Sagebrush plant with smaller plants underneath reaching towards the light. A friend of mine says it reminds her of fertility and I have to agree!

The original is 12" x 12" on cradled panel. Prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Art America.