Sharika Roland

Color can be the weirdest thing .First of all it is nice that we even have color. What a wonderful treat. With that in mind I think you should use it wherever you can. You can get used to the most unusual colors if you just start seeing them.

Fashion is pretty funny. Everybody likes certain colors just because you start to see them everywhere. Humans must like to feel safe so they pick the same colors as they see everywhere and say oh this is the fashion.

Every color is beautiful.  Except beige. I painted my upstairs apartment this taupe color so it would be neutral and  everyone would like it but now I think I was being a lemming. I hate the beige taupe whatever that color is. You don’t have beige flowers. If God did not make any flower beige than I think we should boycott it.

I think the upstairs should be coral and the outside of the house a clear aqua. If you love beige tell me why. Tell me why you love beige.  Neutral smootral . I mean really you only live once.

I like to go on rampages looking for something I haven’t seen before. Sometimes I need to come up with a new concept and I look madly everywhere for a new idea. a new look a new sentiment a new image a new place.

I basically draw two eyes and a nose and a mouth about a million times a day in my head and a few hundred times on the canvas. I want something that makes me feel like I want to know this person. I hate hate hate the pretty face with nothing behind those eyes. Models have that vapid look. Like they haven’t had a thought in their whole lives. I am looking for a fire that I can connect to. No fire no painting.

People say oh you paint the eyes the same. It may look like that to you but to me they are each different. they each say something unique. to me. the question is do they each say something different to you. the client. Each person who buys my work is my client. I am working for them. I am working for you.

I am existing and pouring my soul out for you to gain something from. That is what everyone does on earth. we give things to each other. we give what we have. what I have is whatever I can see when I am done rampaging.

I was watching a documentary on Jean Michel Basquiat the artist. The seemingly unbelievable jump from nobody to blue chip artist is shocking. Some people work furiously while they are alive as though they know they don’t have much time.

Some people act like they have all the time in the world to do all they want to do. Artist should work furiously even if you live to a hundred. The more you work the faster you will get better.

I will tell you a story. About 11 years ago just before I got into a gallery I decided to quit being an artist. I thought  because I had all this work and no noticeable success I would read the writing on the wall and just let it go. If you haven’t made it by now, forget it. As soon a I quit and told my husband I would quit trying so hard for nothing, as soon as I did that something happened. I got a big job out of nowhere. My husband was all for me quitting. we were yes and amening my decision when the phone rang and everything changed. Literally. overnight. I went from a trickle to a storm overnight. overnight.

Jean Michel went from nothing to something overnight but it was too fast and too much so he died. it is better to have some time to get used to each part of the journey so you can handle the stress of being on top. People think it would be great to just be on top but the top has it trials and they are way way different than just being invisible. Ask anyone who is on the top . Its a bed of roses with new thorns. Not that I am anywhere near the top , but I know people that are and that is what it is like.

I am working on some valentines for the shop to sell for an inexpensive little gift for someone. I am writing love notes on the sides of the paintings. and It is so much fun that I feel like I am in love . Funny how that is. The sun is out and the effects of the light is feeding the love. Sound silly. well it is not.

Yesterday I was totally in the dumps and that it is unusual for me. I was thinking about negative things and not having any energy to get away from them. But the valentines got me up and out of my weird thoughts and into how wonderful other people are. Love chases away sadness like a whip, snap it right out of you.

Write someone a valentine and give it to them. it lasts longer if you put it in a card so they can touch it when they feel blue.  Blue and red make purple and purple is a royal color that you cannot be sad in. Impossible.

I have had quite a few people ask me about prints of my work. I have put it off for years as the I don’t quite know if that wold be a good idea.  I came to the conclusion that limited edition prints were the way to go. That is what I am going to start doing. No more than 25 prints of any painting.

I would pay a lot to have a print of a lot of artists paints just to have them in the house. A print can be a good second best for someone who is out of my price point. I would rather pay more to have one made at a time than the whole line done at once. So if you see anything on my website that you would like made into a high quality print, let me know.

I am also going to make another line of work specifically for tableware. One thing I have learned about being an artist is you have to listen to what your market is telling you they want.  As I often say, there are two ways to learn:  listen or pain.