March Artist of the Month - Sharon Hodgson

This week we introduce you to our MySpace friend and 'Artist of the Week' Sharon Hodgson, a talented contemporary Canadian artist in Halifax, Nova Scotia who specializes in LIVE painting. Sharon says "I paint motion and the emotions that have colored my perceptions of motion."

Sharon Hodgson likes to use a lot of vivid color, creating abstractions of movement through heavy repetition of multi-colored lines. Sharon also likes to incorporating recognizable abstractions of movement into each piece. She can be found in Halifax and other cities, painting live at events, and painting quickly! If you have two or three hours, Sharon can produce a painting in that time. Usually Sharon will just show up and paint and people spontaneously buy.

(Emotive Letter Writer, acrylic on canvas)

(Beautiful You, 9"x12", acrylic on stretched canvas, 2006)

From our interaction with Sharon on MySpace as a friend, she has been inspirational and very helpful. I asked her a question about live painting and how she is able to get them done so quickly and here was her response:

"I see it not as a time to make precise copies of reality, but to tell a story of an event, capture the vibe of an evening, with use of different colors and sometimes hints of movement. Stylistic ways to render this or that form, evolve over time with practice.

You learn to trust yourself to paint live as you do it more. I would start off at home timing myself to produce a work within a time limit. When I could comfortably produce paintings within a few hours. I thought there's no reason I can't produce these where people are. Then people would know that I create, take an interest in the work. and identify me as an artist. That's so difficult to achieve if you hide in your studio and don't allow for random interaction with the public.

Since artists cannot get into traditional brick and mortar galleries as easily, we must boldly venture out and paint where ever we go, to remind people that creativity can happen anywhere, not just in while-walled galleries. People can interact with artists. Artists can interact with public.

People can talk about art and what it makes them feel. All these things delight me and a part of going out and creating where others can observe." - Sharon Hodgson

Find Sharon on MySpace
Visit the Artist's Website