Sharla Fell

Sharla Fell      Artist, Art Professor

I was born in the Finger Lakes region of central NY where we played on the farm and swam in the lakes and skied in the winter. I have lived in many different states and several places across California, including the Bay area and Nevada City before coming to a Ojai, CA.

I have always loved color; lots of color. I am drawn to textiles. I love the textures and colors of fabrics. As a child I did painting, printmaking and ceramics with my artist mother, but on my own I learned to sew, bead and embroider. Most recently I have been painting with acrylics and pastels. Sometimes these images end up on textiles and some become prints. I am drawn to images from nature such as flowers, birds and, well, bugs. I often start with a pencil or pastel drawing or painting.

I think I learned to be an artist through teaching others. I teach college traditional drawing, 2D design, and my favorite; color theory. I got thrown into teaching photoshop 20 years ago. Often I use Photoshop skills and techniques in my creative process. My love of layering and building up an image has been enhanced by my skills in Photoshop.

Sometimes I think, in a world so confusing and difficult, I should be making political or social commentary, but I don’t gravitate to that. I have come to peace with knowing that to me, nothing is deeper or more important than nature and love, or more meaningful than creating beauty.