An Interview with Sharon Tomlinson-Artist Extraordinare

I love women artists.  They inspire me daily.  I have met the most incredible artists on facebook and one of these talented ladies is Sharon Tomlinson.  I love her work.  It is unique, fun , gorgeous and dynamic.  Probably like it's creator I'm guessing, who was generous enough to take some of her time and respond to my questions about what got her started.  Before I share my questions and her response, let me show you a few pictures of her work..

 I just love the dynamic palette she uses, her original style of mixed media and collage, and her obvious talent with faces..

 This is a softer and more relaxed palette, again using imagery for the overall composition, and leaving the story up to the viewer.
I don't know Sharon well, I am just an admirer of her work, and soon to be student in her new class, "Faces in Collage" which starts November 4, 2011.  Here is her link to find out more
http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/

I asked Sharon 5 questions that I as an artist am curious about.  

1. How long have you been making art?

"I guess you could say I have been making art since my oldest was one year old.  He is now 43.  Yes, I am old.  And throughout all those years my art play took me in many directions.  I experienced seeing something and wanting to try it; because, when you are young and have a creative spirit, that is just what you do.   For example, I started with ceramics and tole painting which led me to oil painting. I was a oil painter of landscapes, still life, as well as, the human figure.  I am self taught with the exception of one mentor who shared her studio and talent with me nearly every weekday.  It was during that time that I discovered my passion for sculpture.  Studying how-to books, I became an original doll maker and made my own production molds as well as the wigs and costumes right down to the tiny one inch leather shoes.  I think that was the first time that I realized I had a creative passion about something. However, doll making, my way, from the lump of clay to the tiny shoes was so time consuming that during my children's teenage years, I had to put the lump of clay down for a while.  Then I joined my husband in our insurance business.  All that being said, I took about a 20 year break from my art.  However, my creative spirit could not be squelched totally.  One example is during that time I was involved with community theater where I wore all the hats of a community volunteer including, painting many huge backdrops for the theater productions. 

Then, about 5 years ago, I discovered a new passion.  The discovery of collage, mixed media and altered books on the Internet knocked me over.  I don't even remember why I started using acrylic paints as I had never used them before.  But I feel the passion and no matter what I am doing, I must have a brush in my hand.  More than that, I must be painting faces.  Faces are my passion."

 2.  How long did it take for you to find your unique style?

"Well, I have been making art for so many years and I'm sure my style has been evolving.  But I actually feel like my style today has only been developing this past five years.  I think a unique style develops when you have such a passion for something that you just keep doing it over and over and over.  

And you let yourself grow by being fearless and experimenting. And you daydream about it when you are not doing it. In my case, "faces" being part of my passion, I can't even watch a TV program without looking at mouths and eyes and noses and getting lost.  I even see faces in patterns and texture when there are no real faces. I think your unique you shows up when you get lost in the process.  I think it's about passion."

 3.  Do you consider yourself successful?

"Yes, I do. 

I have so many successes: almost 50 years of marriage; two beautiful grown children who gave us four grandchildren; my health; and our business.

I also consider my creative self successful.  I sell my art and have a great online art teaching business that is very successful.  My newest class, Faces In Collage, starts November 7th."

http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/

 4. Where do you get your ideas?
"I find and see and hear inspiration everywhere and anywhere.  I'm not looking to see the whole or finished next painting.  Sometimes, I hear the quietest whisper that snags my imagination and is all I need to "start".  You just have to start and know that you are an artist and you have been inspired. And then after you have started, keep listening because and you will get inspiration for the next brush stroke.  And the next. And the next. My new class tag line is "images inspire the story". I think that relates to your question because it is the real images, as well as, the minds eye images and images from our memory that all get stirred around and give us our imagination that becomes the story."

5. Do you have a loud critic at your back, if so how do you manage it?

"I know him. But he has been pretty quiet lately. I'm not sure why.  Maybe ignoring him long enough worked and that gave me some confidence.

Thank you Sharon.  Thank you for sharing yourself with me, and my friends, for inspiring me and helping me grow.  I know so much more about you now, and I look forward to watching your career unfold.  I am simply in awe of how women in the arts collaborate instead of compete.  It's utterly refreshing to ask such personal questions about the artistic process and get in depth answers within a day's time.  Sharon Tomlinson is a class act and I am thrilled to be able to showcase such a talented artist.

"Spark the Event" ignited an inferno in me....

I am going to try to find words to tell about Spark the Event.  This is challenging because there was so much happening every minute, I couldn't even catch my breath.  But I need to share my spark, it's my duty.  I have been given such a gift, I want to pass it on to you....so the best way I can share how amazing this whole experience was is to SHOW you with pictures.  Cause seeing is believing, right?

 Here I am beginning my spark journey, inspired by my surroundings of the mountains in Utah.  My first time there and definitely not the last.  The scenery, the people and the energy is all pure and fresh.

 How clever is this, just walking upon the door we begin to see the joy and beauty that awaits....

 My new friends Gina and Jennifer.  All these women from all over the country (even some from Japan!) came to ignite their creativity.  It was grown up girls art camp, and it was fabulous.

 I met Nancy Wyatt after being facebook friends and she is just as fun and friendly as you would imagine.  I was struck by the realness of everyone involved.  No one had a diva attitude or wasn't just humble and genuine.  How refreshing!  These are dynamic, successful women and they were all gathered together to help facilitate growth and bonding for creative women...

 the decor was happy and ingenious, using all recycled items.  Margie said they didn't spend a lot but you wouldn't know it, which is really creativity as it's best.  Use what you have around you.  You don't have to spend a lot to make something beautiful.  It's been my motto all along, and I loved seeing how the decorations were made with ribbon, yard and paper scraps.  I am going to implement some of the sparkness I saw at the shop...

 This is the uber talented Mindy Gledhill.  She is AMAZING.  She sang a song called "Anchor" and I was hooked. line. sinker.  I am bought her CD and I have since played it over and over, I can't wait to bring it to the shop and create whilst listening to that melodic voice....here is the cutie patooties website...
http://www.mindygledhill.com/

 I like this shot, the light was so nice, I was so overwhelmed with joy and took a moment to look out the window and thank God for all this goodness.  The talented Cathe Holden was kind enough to take my picture and she was also generous throughout the event in sharing useful tidbits of information about being in the creative business world.  Here is her awesome blog "just something i made"...
http://justsomethingimade.com/

Cathe is also a local to me living in the darling town of Petaluma, hopefully our paths will cross again soon...

 Here is our gorgeous food table, it was always charming, and lavish.  We wanted for nothing.  Included in the package was lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks galore.  I am amazed at the value, not to mention they showered us with freebies.  All of a sudden you would be deep in concentration, making a project and in would walk Margie saying "Who wants some presents?" and we would get a giant bag of scrapbook goodies....it was just constant goodness is all I can say.

 Here is the view from the rooptop of Noah's the gorgeous building where this was hosted...beauty everywhere....

 We had the whole place to ourselves.  The meals were in the big room downstairs and the various classes were all upstairs, the schedule was 8AM-9PM and we crafted and created like elfs the day before Christmas.....

 my spark homies: Nancy, me, Gina, Jennifer and Michelle.  What a great group of women, I never knew any of them before Spark and we bonded instantly.  I was surprised at how many women went by themselves, they were all brave and stepping outside their comfort zones, many having their first Mom getaway ever.  I think it helped form instant friendships and I know everyone who went has spark sisters they will stay connected to.

 This is one of the many classes, this is Donna Downey's class and this was my favorite of them all.  Why it was my favorite is because I love Donna's style, loose and free,and I used pan pastels for the first time.  I just found out about them and I love how non-messy and convenient they are.  I also liked how Donna's class was "do-able" in that we made a collage in an hour.  Some of the classes were tough only in that I wanted more time (and I am a fast worker), but her's was basic enough to finish in the amount of time we had.  I will be buying pan pastels ASAP as a result of this class, and I am now a big follower of her work.

 Donna showing the sample collage and explaining how to make it.  It was surprisingly easy....

 Donna is so down to earth and funny.  I loved meeting artists whose work I admire.  There is no pretentiousness with any of these ladies, which made it non stressful and uplifting.  Art can be intimidating and even if you were a beginner you would have been able to walk away with a finished piece of work and felt good about it.

 "Here is our work teacher!!" Loved this technique and will be doing more of it in the future....Here is Donna's blog for those interested in her work...
http://donnadowney.typepad.com/

 This is Christy Campbell Tomlinson, creator of "She Art" which is so popular right now.  She's as delightful and real as the rest, sharing her touching story of how "She Art" manifested through her father's death.  She made her first "She Art" for her sister to help her cope and it just exploded from there.  I am struck by how organic the whole process of art is, how if you just let go and create, what is meant to happen will happen.  This is powerful for me as I often struggle with wanting to know where my path is going.  I need to let go and let God, and see what unfolds.  If I try to force it , then I only get frustrated.  When I keep myself open things come to me, just like Spark.  I wasn't even looking for it but it came right to me.  I am so glad it did.
Here is Christy's "She Art" link for those interested...
http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/christytomlinson/workshops.html

 This is the darling Emily Falconbridge, queen of felting.  I had never felted before, nor did I even know what felting was.  It's a technique used with wool and this was our last class at Spark.  We made felted soap, which is an extremely relaxing and somewhat sensual process..  I shall take Emily's online felting class and continue to learn more about this art...here's a link to her blog if you want to check it out..
http://embers.typepad.com/e/workshops.html

 This was our dinner table for Saturday night, full of beauty and Spark.  I probably gained 5 pounds from all the yummy food and desserts.

 Here is the Queen, founder and creator of Spark, Margie Romney-Aslett.  She is so inspirational to me that I gave her my original red tutu of the tutu series.  I felt compelled to do so.  She has sparked so many women's lives and her leadership shows me what can be accomplished with hard work and ingenuity.  It is women like her that show us how to get there, by surrounding herself with other amazing women that support her vision.  By being genuine, funny and talented she has accomplished so much.  Honestly I know she does a lot more then Spark, she teaches, has a creative team and a whole lot more.  Here is her blog for those who want to find out more..I know I will be watching her rise to fame, cheering her on the sidelines and happy to Spark again next year...
http://www.margieromney-aslett.typepad.com/

 Here is another incredibly talented woman Sarah Sample, she performed on Saturday night and rocked the house with her beautiful voice.  She told us stories of how she wrote her songs and then we helped sing along and I had chills from the collective energy of the room.  It was hard not to cry at times, it was so powerful.  I also bought her CD's and have been loving playing them at home, keeping my Spark lit....here is Sarah's link, check her out, she is on her way to the top, no doubt about it...
http://www.sarahsample.com/music.php

 and then I met the darling, the delicious Chrissy Gardner.  It was love at first sight.  We are both cowgirl hippy's and we sparked immediately.  She is one of those instant friends, you can just tell by her smile can't you?  I have a big time girl crush on her and I look forward to collaborating on a hippy cowgirl line in the near future...here's miss fabulous's blog for those who want to know her...
http://www.chrissygardner.blogspot.com/

 and then after all this mind-blowing goodness, and I do mean mind blowing.  My head hurt from all the excitement we go to the Dear Lizzie store.  OMG is all I can say.  It is the best store I have ever seen.  My mouth literally opened and I think I might have even drooled a bit, I am telling you, it's GORGEOUS!  If I lived near this shop I would never need to go anywhere else for a pick me up.  Laura the owner is as kind and warm as all the other spark sisters and she deserves all the credit for making this slice of heaven.  I gasped when I saw these tutu's, I would never be able to resist if my daughter was small...

 The hardest part is taking it all in, every inch of the store is packed with beauty.  Very inspiring for me as a shop owner.  I saw some familiar things and some things I wanted for the shop.

Here is the link to Laura's store to find out more...

http://www.mydearlizzie.com/boutique

 This was one of the last pictures and I love it cause we were cracking up.   I saw someone get this drink (that I have in my hands) and I gasped, and said "What is that?!" It was a Fizzy Lizzie drink which is essentially cherry soda and whip cream.  What a perfect drink to finish off a perfect trip.  Nancy and I were laughing as I was trying to take a picture with one hand in the mirror and cheers with the other....Nancy is another multi talented woman who has her hands in many things creative.  Here is her blog to check out as well....
http://www.lovestocreate.com/

As I sit here writing about Spark I am still reeling from the weekend's events and happenings.  This magic is going to permeate my art and I am so excited to go to the studio tomorrow.  I expected to like Spark, I knew it would be fun.  But it far exceeded my expectations.  I made a Spark shrine with all my goodies, I have sparked up my dining room chandelier and I have yet to unpack.  I have been Sparkformed, as have all who went.  I can hardly wait to do it again.....here is the Spark website for those who care to look...
http://www.sparktheevent.com/