I am an artist. I was born an artist. I move through my days as an artist. It is my gift. It is what I am naturally no matter what my up bringing, education, or life experience has brought me. It is all I am. My paintings have their source from my presence, my center, the essence I was born with before I became influenced by parents, television, advertising, movie images.

For most of my life I didn’t give my gift very much food to grow on, only crayons (the 8 pack) until age 14, then public school tempera paint (again only the basic 8 colors). It wasn’t until college that I ever saw the inside of a real art supply store. Seeing all of the gorgeous but fearsome supplies like Dr. Martin’s Dyes, Craypas, packs of construction paper in 150 colors was far too intimidating. I couldn’t overcome my fear of possibly using them in a way that was against the rules. I couldn’t flow with the possibilities. I couldn’t just jump in and splash around. It took me years, way beyond college to grow into my artistic skin and have the confidence to use the colors and brushstrokes that had been denied escape from the Genie Bottle of my body.

Graduation from Moore College of Art was in 1971. I didn’t truly start painting again until 1999. My painting style can be described as soft, emotional, representational, romantically feminine, contemporary. The images and brush strokes are often flowing as a natural conversation between friends, and painterly as soft butter spread on luscious velvet, especially in my large series of irises. My images and brush strokes have a contemporary, modernistic feel. My “Chair Paintings” are infused with elements of impressionism, colors of Matisse and Gauguin. I’ve also painted a group of graphic, larger than life irises relating to the work of Georgia O’Keeff. My objective is to paint beautiful paintings that give the viewer a sense of deep satisfaction, or raise prickles, or cause sighs of appreciation.

Because of the political mess we have in the United States the 10 paintings I painted in January and February in Saint Augustine, 2019 all relate to our political climate. The series is called, “Covid 19”, a title that represents the time in history when I painted this series. The subject of the paintings speaks of the many ideas that I, friends, and strangers think about; ideas of what they would do if they were president and the inability of our government to hear our voices, and the expression of our thoughts continuing on, still hoping for a future that will hear our ideas. My personal ideas involve electing leaders who govern by humanitarian principals and who can stand up to greed and who can infuence our law makers and citizens to do the right thing.

My studio is my happy place where natural light floods in and influences my views of the world both literally and metaphorically. I begin a painting with an imagined image and then proceed by memory in combination with seeing and feeling. I am in a state of concentration during my painting time. It is when I am in the deepest concentration, almost a trance, that I achieve my best work. The feeling or sensation I have when I’m painting is a charged feeling; it is what I imagine a cosmic message would feel like. The message comes flowing into my brain and travels through my head and chest and stomach and then out my arm, and hand and brush onto the canvas. It is when this level of concentration is broken that I often struggle with my brush and paint.

My favorite work is often my most recent work. WOODS II is my most recent work and I am quite excited about how these 5 paintings express the quality, the sensations that the woods that I live in, that surround my home, my studio give me, surround me, envelop me. My woods are scary, dense, smothering, extraordinarily beautiful.

Being an artist has made me different from other people and it has taken me more than several adult years to grow comfortable in my state of being. Now that I’m here I revel in the way I see beauty. I’m thankful for my gifts and I wish to share my paintings with you in hope that they will be uplifting in these hard political times and in a world that still has not figured out how to put an end to war.

Shary Koenig

Contact me by email
sharyart@gmail.com

EDUCATION

Moore College of Art, Bachelor’s Degree, Philadelphia

Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina

Studio Incamminati, Philadelphia

Shary Koenig. sharyart@gmail.com