Biography: Shar was born and raised in Bountiful, Utah.  After graduating from Utah State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting she felt that her  art should be taken seriously.  Her preferred medium was oil paint mixed with varnish, a technique that recreates the “glazing” techniques of the masters from the renaissance era.  She found a fascination with the concept of nature versus progress, creating artworks that confront the issues of man destroying the environment and mass production versus home-grown/hand-made.  

As her artwork continued addressing nature and man colliding against each other she felt she was colliding with her art in a way that made creating it difficult.  Because of this she recognized that her art needed a different avenue.  She started taking watercolor classes, a painting method she had avoided for years because everyone said it was extremely difficult.  After the first project Shar had found a new love for painting.  Watercolor had a speed that was missing from the oil glazing technique and a freshness in the bright color palette.  

As this exploration continued, she reintroduced many of the mediums that she had put aside, deciding to become a master of many to get out of the rut.  Recognizing that creating in a lot of mediums was enjoyable but very expensive she realized the need for a full-time paycheck to feed the new obsession.  This led Shar to teaching and she went back to school at Weber State University for a masters in secondary education to teach art.  Teaching was a perfect fit, Shar’s first job had actually been as a swimming instructor, and being able to teach students these multiple mediums fed the need to create in many different ways. Her philosophy as a teacher was to never assign a project that she herself would not be interested in creating.  Because of this Shar explored a lot of different artists and the way they created their work. During this lesson preparation she stumbled upon finger painting. 

For Shar fingerpainting equals pure joy, from the tactile application to her choice of subject matter. It was such a departure from the seriousness of where she started.  This journey has allowed her to embrace all of the aspects of her artist creations.  When the day calls for serious production the oil and varnish comes out but if it gets too “serious” a silly animal will be next on the easel.  This has allowed Shar to find joy in everything.  She and her husband take vacations where she can get great reference photos of animals for finger paints and old vehicles for traditional oils.  While everything else is fair game for a watercolor.