"Officer and a Gentleman"

There comes a time in every artist's life when we must answer the question "am I a painter or an artist". I think the easiest approach at this point in my painting career is to call myself an artist so people will no longer ask me to paint their living rooms. As a painter I consider myself to be a contemporary representationalist as well as somewhat of a water based, mix media, experimental artist.

My paintings focus on the basic elements of style which I consider to be important, in two dimensional art. There is nothing more imperative than composition and to relay the message on two dimensional surface. A majority of my work is executed on Yupo which is a synthetic paper, originally made for printing purposes. Because this paper has no cotton content it is non-absorbing. This means that whatever pigment I apply to the paper remains on the surface of the paper and doesn't fade away. I have selected this non-traditional type of watercolor painting because it allows me the freedom to record my inner emotions in a manner acceptable and understandable to most viewers.

I like to live on the wild, funky, whimsical, irreverent side of life and like to take my paintings there with me.

                                                          --Carol Ann Sherman, FWS