Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Pomales Tousey.
Sharon, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born in San Juan and raised in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. I started showing an interest and talent in art at a very young age. My parents divorced when I was 4 years old and my grandmother took care of me while my mother worked, being an only child, I spent countless hours drawing.
My father worked as Art Director in an advertising agency in San Juan, during his free time he painted in watercolors, he always encouraged me to draw and paint and provided me with lots of art books and various supplies to experience different mediums. My mother was also very encouraging and supportive and at the age of 8 enrolled me in classes at an Atelier. I also enjoyed browsing thru the pages of her magazines and drawing the faces of the models out of her Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar magazines. Once I tried oil painting and pastel painting, I fell in love with both, put aside the watercolors and been painting in oils and soft pastels since. I am self-taught and I’m still always learning, I work long hours in my studio every day, working hard to be better each time. Lately I’ve been experimenting with mixed-media and have enjoyed the results greatly.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My work is very detailed, hyper realistic. Even though I have painted varied subjects from still-life to cityscapes, I am mainly a figurative painter. I always say “my art is my voice” because just Iike a story-teller does, I narrate with paint, those stories that must be told in order to help others or in order to understand and unite. Sometimes I just narrate stories that tell about the psychological aspects of human behavior, sometimes with a touch of humor.
I do a lot of people-watching, observing mannerisms, behaviors, situations and then I capture them with my i-phone and small sketches (simple pencil drawings). Once in the studio, I prepare the painting surface, I have different panels (aluminum, wood, gessoed) of various sizes and rolls of very fine-tooth canvas and select the substrate that better fits at that moment, then I may choose something from a photo and include in the painting things I draw from life. I teach both oil and pastel painting at BayArts, a non-profit Arts Center in Bay Village, Ohio headed by Nancy Heaton.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
Regardless of all the artwork I have sold through the years, the galleries and museum shows, features in magazines and having the opportunity to exhibit in Spain recently, I will truly feel successful when I have contributed to a positive change in the world, in people’s lives, with my work. The day I see improvements made to someone’s quality of life after my art’s voice has been heard, that will be the moment I’ll feel I have succeeded as an artist.
For a young artist who is starting I would say, be disciplined, work hard and with passion, and be loud, speak up for what you believe in, with your work, use it to do good, loudly!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
From July 1st to August 28th people can see my oil painting ‘1540 Broadway, NYC’ at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. During this month I’ll have my oil painting ‘After a while’ hanging at the Zanesville Museum of Art, and from August 2nd to September 16th my painting ‘While the World Burns’ will be at The Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA. Two of my newest and largest pieces can be seen and purchased at the CAN Contemporary Art Triennial in Cleveland, Ohio. If they are in the Denver, Colorado area anytime they can find my work at Abend Gallery.
And some of my work can also be found at Lovetts Fine Art Gallery in Tulsa, Ok, this is the gallery that represents me and amongst the pieces of mine they have, there’s a painting I did of the Dylan’s Candy Bar store in Michigan Avenue (https://www.lovettsgallery.com/gallery/our-artists/sharon-pomales)
Online, people can see my work and find out about upcoming shows and classes by visiting my website www.sharonpomales.com and follow me on Instagram @sharonpomalestousey. My email, for any inquiries and commissions, is sharonpomalesart@yahoo.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sharonpomales.com
- Email: sharonpomalesart@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonpomalestousey
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyArtIsMyVoice/
- Twitter: @sharon_pomales
Image Credit:
From top to bottom, left to right
1. After a while, oil on aluminum panel
2. The balance of good and evil, oil on canvas
3. Los clones no tienen tumbao (Clones don’t have swing) Pastel on paper
4.Agnus Dei omnes, pastel on panel
5 Dylan’s Candy Bar, oil on aluminum panel
6 Aun llueve en Macondo (It still rains in Macondo) Pastel on panel
7 While the World Burns, oil on aluminum panel
8. 1540 Broadway, NYC Oil on aluminum panel
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