As with most artists, I was inspired by one artist in particular early on.  I think that is why my early art was almost always whimsical in nature.  My great inspiration was, and has been, Marc Chagall.  I love his choice of colors, the movement and the whimsy.  An editor of my children’s book series “Bunbun” once told me that I have the mind of a 5 year old.  Most people might be insulted by this, but I was rather pleased.  Ask any artist … it is extremely difficult for many writers and artists to put themselves into that mindset of a child.

As Marc Chagall once said, “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”  How very true.  Art just has to be let free … flowing from the heart to the hand.

Now that my heart and mind have embraced abstract painting I am inspired greatly by painters such as Gerhard Richter.  His painting style has become so “simple” yet so involved.  Just watching a video of him sliding his squeegee of paint across a large painting and the transformation is amazing.  I am greatly inspired and my desire to paint is all encompassing these days.  Yes, I still drift back and forth from whimsical for my children’s books and characters to a recess of my mind that is total abstraction.  I love the duality of it all.

Juggling Rabbit, gouche on paper by Sharon Pierce McCullough