Paintings and Portraits

Sharon’s Adamy’s brightly colored pastel paintings portray people, street and market scenes, and landscapes. Many of her subjects are drawn from New Mexico’s colorful and varied culture and scenery while others are drawn from her own travels. People and their mannerisms are a particular fascination. Her “people paintings” often begin with gesture drawings that capture the persona better than facial features. Sharon dwells upon layers of strokes that lend energy to each piece.

Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Sharon settled into her home and studio in Alto, New Mexico, more than ten years ago. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of New Mexico, has participated in many national juried exhibitions, and has received numerous awards from competitions in Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.

Sharon attended Kansas State University and has studied drawing and painting at Wichita State University and Eastern New Mexico University. She studied pastel painting under Jim Avant for 9 years and has studied with Betty Dickerson, Wilma Wethington, Wyatt McCrae and Nancy Means. She has also attended workshops with Sidney Hermel, John Oehm, and Ann Templeton.

Sharon always wanted to draw and paint as a child but was really never encouraged to do so. As most parents do, hers enrolled her in a number of pursuits to find the one in which she could excel. After she was kicked out of ballet school, she was given some golf clubs and turned out to be fairly capable at that activity eventually winning a number of tournaments. After college Sharon took a number of art courses and workshops, but most of her growth as an artist resulted from her own eye.  “It was a matter of persistence and determination and many attempts at creating a recognizable portrait that finally brought the reward of actually creating a reasonable likeness. I worked from photographs and did many self portraits from mirrors until I became adept at recreating reality. Today I work a lot from digital photographs and I use my computer to distort some of the images so that they are not so realistic.  I suppose that is coming ‘full circle’. I was very fortunate to have discovered a remarkable mentor in Jim Avant a Kansas artist and former Wichita State professor.  He “threw” art books at me to study and took me to exhibits to help me gain an appreciation for the craft. He encouraged me to enter my work in competitions and I began to acquire more confidence.”

“I was introduced to pastels by an artist friend who brought me a box of Senneliers from Paris.  I had been drawing with pen and ink and charcoal and painting with oils. The pastel sticks (created from the same pigments as those used in watercolor and oil paints) satisfied my need to combine the best of drawing and painting. Today I must own a thousand pastel sticks in every shade and hue.”

Sharon's work may be seen by appointment at Twisted Pine Studio in Alto NM.

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