The Art of Smiles

Artist Sharen Chatterton

A celebration of the natural world, an explosion of color and a dream of joy and inspiration. All these elements go into the bright, summer-infused paintings of North Richland Hills, Texas artist Sharen Chatterton.

Artist, Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® Registered Artist)

Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, Sharen has had a lifelong love of the environment, which has always inspired her as an artist. "I have painted on and off most of my life and I love nature. As a kid my friends often called me 'mother nature', which was fitting since I was the one that always wanted to save the baby bird that fell out of its nest, or the baby raccoon abandoned by its mom. But only within the last couple of years have I been really focused on my art.

"I can't look at any aspect of nature without being called to use my gift to try to capture its beauty. I am particularly drawn to flowers and butterflies. I love their intensity, their vibrant colors, their fanciful flow and their detail."

Zebra Longwing and Jatropha, by artist Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® ID #36470)

Apart from two watercolor classes and a 2D art class, Sharen is basically a self-taught artist. She paints in watercolor, mixed media (collage) and acrylics. Currently, she is working primarily in acrylics. "I love the versatility of acrylics; there are so many ways they can be applied. I paint in vibrant colors and I find that acrylics offer me the opportunity to paint large and small canvases in those intense colors."

As for influences and inspiration, "I absolutely love the Vibrant Colors in the watercolor works of Soon Y. Warren. She is a local artist, residing in Fort Worth, Texas. Her piece, Patterns of Light, which has a beautiful tangerine with an abstract background, is probably my favorite. The detail, the color and composition are phenomenal."

Sharen sold her first piece in Bryan College Station, Texas, at a small art gallery. Although it wasn't even one of her personal favorites, it spoke to the buyer. Since then, Sharen has sold several paintings, through shows and commission work.

Zebra Longwing and Penta, by artist Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® ID #36611)

Sharen has a deep passion connected with her art and specific goals to achieve with it. "Two of my favorite things are gardening and creating art. As a gardener and an artist, I love the colors, the smells, the peace and solitude that my time spent in the garden, and in front of a canvas, bring to me.

"As an artist, I endeavor to express my love of nature in each of my pieces. I try to capture the beauty created by an undeniably talented God. I am a painter of smiles, each piece I create has to have that smile factor. When people look at the piece, it should make them smile, glad to be alive to enjoy all the beauty that is around them.

"There is such brilliance and beauty in all of nature. I attempt to capture these beautiful creations on canvas. My hope is that my paintings will not only inspire people to smile each time they view them, but that they will inspire them to be better stewards of our earth. Through my art and the things that I do, I try to bring awareness to people, moving them towards being better stewards, wherever they live. There are so many small things that people can do to make their impact on the earth a positive one.

"Butterfly conservation can be impacted by as simple a thing as planting a butterfly garden. When I visit with people about my paintings, I try to educate them about butterflies, host plants and nectar plants. Not only can we enjoy the flowers we plant, but also they are of benefit to many animals and insects.

Summer II, by artist Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® ID #36473)

"My journey with my art is just beginning, my plans are in their infancy, but my hopes run high and each time my work is viewed I have made an impact on someone, however small, that perhaps will cause them to have a kinder view of our earth."

Sharen has a bright and busy future exhibiting her art. She is showing 15 pieces of her work at the Gallery at the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park in Dallas. The exhibition is in a beautiful venue that compliments each piece and runs through July 31, 2010.

She also has pieces in an exhibit at the Lancaster Theatre Gallery in Grapevine, Texas during May and June. And in November, her work will be seen at the Buon Giorno gallery wall, also in Grapevine.

In addition, she will be at the Botanical Gardens in Grapevine, doing plein air painting, and has several shows in the autumn.

To compliment her exhibit schedule, and further get the word out about her art, Sharen is an enthusiastic marketer.

"I market my art through shows, exhibitions, a monthly newsletter and the Internet. On the Internet, I utilize my web site, www.sharenchatterton.com and www.lunaazulstudio.com.

Sunflowers and Summer, by artist Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® ID #36471)

"With a tremendous amount of help from my Web Site Administrator, we have produced a vibrant site in www.sharenchatterton.com that reflects me as an artist and is very user friendly for my visitors. My blog is an ever-evolving place of interest and challenge. It allows me to connect to the people who enjoy my work, it allows me to grow not only as an artist, but as an internet communicator. I just added my first video on my blog site, it's pretty bad, but it's a start! My gallery is one click away, as well as my art shop; there is a quick link to Fine Art Registry®, my Facebook page, 'Sharen Chatterton, The Art of Smiles', and Twitter.

"I am in the process of creating a page for each piece of artwork, giving some information about the piece, etc. I always enjoy opportunities to meet people face to face, and talk about my work, I can then leave them with information about my newsletter and my website, which will keep them up to date on new happenings in my art world."

Zinnias, by artist Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® ID #36469)

Before her Exhibition at the Gallery at Texas Discovery Gardens, Sharen was looking for some sort of certificate of authenticity for her pieces. While searching the Internet she came across the Fine Art Registry® website. She immediately knew that the FAR® tagging and registration system was what she was looking for.

Since then, she has tagged and registered seventeen pieces. She now tags each piece as it is finished, and registers it right away.

"Fine Art Registry gives me peace of mind. It is a great way to document each piece. I feel like FAR is 'the security vault' for my artwork.

"The FAR tags give not only credibility to each of my pieces, but they add value. As potential customers view the work, see the tag on the back, and I explain the significance of the tag, the customers now have a greater appreciation for the piece. I think it says a tremendous amount about the value of my work, when the artist takes the time to register each piece for posterity and also provides the art buyer the ability to transfer ownership of the piece through the FAR system.

Summer IV, by artist Sharen Chatterton. (FAR® ID #36612)

"I did a piece for a silent auction at 'The Organic in the City Fashion Show'. I believe the FAR tag and brochure were an added bonus and actually made the piece more valuable when the bidding started."

With all these benefits, Sharen plans to "absolutely" tag and register all her art as it is produced.

"I would also like to say that the staff at FAR have been so nice and so very helpful. My first phone conversation was with Teri, who was so helpful and so kind with her encouragement and genuine attention to me as an artist. My conversations with Lynnette Orlosky have been equally as helpful and encouraging."

"My life is so very blessed. I have a wonderful family who supports me in all that I do. My husband is my biggest fan and my twin sister, who is also an artist, (we collaborated on the two Twin Mixes) is so supportive and so talented to boot.

"Did I mention that I am soon to be a grandmother twice over? I'm one of those people who can't wait to be a grandmother, I am so excited, (my kids think I'm crazy because I want to be called NeNe). My son and his wife are due in August and my daughter and her husband are due in December! My life is full, busy and absolutely wonderful!"

Visit Sharen's website and FAR gallery to see more of her incredible work!

Artist's FAR Registered Pieces | Entire FAR Portfolio › | Sales Gallery › | Biography ›

— by Georgianna Lane  |  May 1, 2010  |  Print Version - PDF

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