Sherry Lawler Sparks, an Orange County, California-based, classically trained artist whose career spans more than 30 years, possesses an uncanny ability to duplicate famous styles, techniques and works. Thanks to an early childhood environment rich in the arts and science, and substantial college-level and private lessons, Sparks can explore a personal interpretation readily apparent in her original oils and watercolors.

A lifetime spent analyzing and practicing all types of art helped shape Sparks' keen sense of vision and acquire experience in a vast array of media. Currently, she works as a fine artist, a mural and faux finishing artisan, and a color consultant for commercial and residential clientele.

Milestones

Sparks' diverse cultural heritage includes Cherokee, Crow, Blackfoot and European bloodlines. The artist drew upon her Native American background while working with the Woniga Nagi Native American pottery company to create hand-carved, hand-painted cameos that quickly turned up in public and private permanent collections across the United States. One cameo adorns a water vessel on exhibit in the Los Angeles Indian Center's permanent collection.

Sparks has shown her work in prominent OC shows, including Art-A-Fair and Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. Her work has been displayed at the Surf City Festival and at the Art Center Gallery in Huntington Beach, as well as the former The Gallery by the Sea on the Redondo Beach Pier.

Not one to resist new artistic medium, Sparks' reach extends to the Internet, where she designs, develops and manages several websites, including her own. She is cofounder of the ARTFaces/ARTPlaces websites and was director, creator and webmaster of the award-wining www.artfaces.com/artkids. Sparks plans to revamp the ARTKids website and create it as a separate entity, making it an instructional aid for parents of home-schoolers.

A current client, the popular and innovative Lazy Dog Café, hired her specifically for her expert eye and sense of color, effect and design, realizing at once she possessed the ability to bring a strong identity to their vision. The first of the cafés, owned by the son of a successful OC restaurant entrepreneur and creator of Mimi's Café, opened in summer 2003; the second opened December 2006 in Torrance, California. Construction for a third café is underway in Anaheim, California; additional locations are in the works. The success of her Lazy Dog Café contract paved the way to her new pet portraiture venture; these works can be viewed at www.portraits4yourpet.com.

The Vision, The Future

Sparks' commercial and residential mural and faux finishing clientele continues to grow at a precipitous rate, and she constantly strives to achieve new enlightenment for herself and bring innovation to decorative painting. “I read every book about art, murals and faux finishing I can get my hands on and surf the ‘net constantly to see what other artists are doing on unlimited budgets,” she says. “There is so much more to be done in this arena, and I want to be one of the artists creating new forms of decorative expression in the new millennium.” Her attitude toward art and expression is a blend of confidence and awe. “When I am in my golden years, ready to pass from this place, I don't want to say that I ‘worked my life away.' If I can paint for a living, I will never feel like that.”

To view Sparks' works, please visit www.thepaintedmural.com