After receiving my BFA from the University of Massachusetts, with high honors, I decided to take a road trip. A trip in which I spent three months in a car, cross-country camping, with not much more than a sketch book and a camera and, of course, some camping gear and occasionally, some food. I was living rather simply, after a grueling program involved in very scientific and serious concerns of the art world of that time. On this trip I fell passionately in love with the great outdoors and the magic of geology and archeology and history of the great mountains, rivers, streams, oceans, trees and the people that inhabit these lands. I had been a “city kid” with urban concerns and not so used to the power of reflection on the simple beauty that surrounds all of us. I have worked as a studio artist and a commercial artist for many years. Meanwhile, I have always been driven to find a spiritual path that inspired me and to find fulfillment. So, one day I decided that my passion was out there — the big world that surrounds me and all its amazing beauty. And that I belong out there. Being a person who loves the outdoors so much I could almost live outside, landscape painting on location is the most perfect choice for my subject matter. Combining being outside with my passion for painting makes the art-making process truly a joy-filled and spiritual experience. As a landscape painter en plein air, I find that being outside observing the ever changing dance of light to be true witness to the face of God. The experience of painting outdoors is awe-inspiring and, at times, humbling. My goal is to capture this experience, defined by color, light and atmosphere and my emotional interpretation of the moment. I work quickly, with large brushes and lots of paint to match the pace of the sun and to keep the scene that I am involved in fresh and energized—the energy that transforms and inspires me. My inspiration often comes from the simple, often overlooked in our busy lifes — a lone boat, or a simple tree surrounded in perfect light. Sometimes, a funny thing happens when I am setting up—I think I have an opportunity to paint a subject that I have designed to be good, challenging, unique, with good light, and then I turn around to get my gear and look up and see something far more paintable. Spontaneity — a painters gift! Sometimes I call these “paintings that paint themselves”. In other words, I didn’t have to move mountains — like the bible says we can! My paintings have often been described as peaceful and serene. I find this assessment to describe the fundamental reason why I paint. I am truly inspired by the peace and serenity of the natural world that surrounds me. Presently, I am trying to capture the beauty and perfection of a location that is endangered or already slated to be developed. "The mind of the painter should be like a mirror which always takes the colour of the thing that it reflects, and which is filled by as many images as there are things placed before it."

My paintings are acrylic on canvas--sizes up to 60" x 36". Commissions are encouraged. Signed archival-quality prints on heavy rag paper, or on canvas, can be individually produced to your preferred size.

“My work has evolved from a lifelong love for, fascination with, and sense of reverence for the human form. I have also been deeply committed over the years to the process of drawing, finding in it time and again an emotional and visceral immediacy that has served my deeper purposes. I am working now exclusively with live models and with a great deal of speed. I like working with a living, breathing human being because, by definition, the subject is not a static one but a dynamic one, moment by moment in a process of change. My aim is to transmit something of the power of that dynamism to the viewer. When successful, I liken the experience to going on a somewhat frightening roller coaster ride and arriving breathless and sometimes amazed at where that ride has taken me. The process requires of me a very deep letting off of the brakes of any preconceived notions I may have had for the drawing. By responding freshly to a particular moment the work can move in many different directions, sometimes more abstractly, sometimes more representationally. My best work often includes elements of both, and can be further layered with a sense of transition, emotional nuance and some measure of mystery.”

I often start with a figurative painting or a portrait. Then I adapt to the particular situation by subverting the picture plane in a variety of ways. Usually I either contract or expand the depicted space using one or more floating, intruding, or incongruous objects or subjects. My aim is to develop the classic genre of figurative work or portraiture into something more psychologically expressive and amusing. I chiefly work in pastel, oil pastel, or watercolor.

Paul Madonna writes and draws the weekly series All Over Coffee for the San Francisco Chronicle, and is the author of two books, All Over Coffee (City Lights 2007) and Everything is its own reward (City Lights 2011), which won the NCBR Recognition Award for Best Book in 2011. Paul's work has been published internationally in numerous books and magazines, exhibited in galleries and museums, and printed as large scale murals for Tacolicious restaurants and Starbucks. Paul is the Comics Editor for TheRumpus.net, has taught drawing at the University of San Francisco, and frequently lectures at schools. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD Magazine, for which he proudly received no money. Paul travels internationally to draw and write, and currently lives in San Francisco.

For almost three decades Sharon Steuer has pioneered the merging of traditional and digital art forms. Sharon's recent work weaves together her oil paintings, drawings, digital paintings, photographs, and personal artifacts to explore and reflect fragmented memory. Awards for her artwork include the national Faber Birren Color Award, a Windsor Newton Painting award, and a Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her studio is in the 60-artist building Workspace Limited, studio 14a, 2150 Folsom Street (between 17th and 18th).

Sharon is also is an author who teaches how to use digital tools to create artwork in books (The Adobe Illustrator WOW! Books, Creative Thinking in Photoshop), videos (lynda.com/SharonSteuer), and as a regular contributor CreativePro.com.

Drawing has always been my passion and my focus. Please visit my web site for more images and information.