Since she was a toddler, Sharon Markwardt has loved Nature, critters and creativity.  Raised in a family of outdoorsy artists, engineers and scientists, she grew to embrace accuracy and detail as well as creativity.  When she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, she minored in Biology.  Decades later, the two disciplines are reflected in her signature style--anatomically accurate animals with bright, lively, and often humorous personalities. This style emerged when as a beginning rider, Sharon took a high-speed fall from her mare, breaking a tailbone and hitting her head.

 

She got back on.
 
The boldness required for horsemanship seeped into her art, resulting in daring close-focus compositions and a bright color palette.  Breaking rules in Art requires a certain degree of fearlessness.  She uses the colors she sees in her photos and "cranks them up a notch" as she paints.  Many of her subjects are personal friends, including her own horses and donkey, a friend's bison and the neighbor's longhorns.  These relationships allow Sharon to shoot the intimate photos used to create paintings of animals with distinct personalities and emotions.

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Sharon Markwardt's work has won many awards (her first Best of Show came at age 14). Her work has been seen in publications such as Western Art Collector, Art of the West, and even a feature article in Southwest Art (August 2018). She is a Master Signature Member of Women Artists of the West, and a member of Oil Painters of America.  She has appeared in several museum shows including the Booth Museum and "Cowgirl Up!" for the 13th consecutive year.

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Markwardt's primary goal with her art is to induce emotions in her viewers--to leave them with a sense of strength or a laugh.  Nothing make the artist happier than hearing from collectors how often her work brings smiles to their days.