JOAN SHARROCK ........... Artist - Wildlife Painter
JOAN SHARROCK ........... Artist - Wildlife Painter
Read another article on Joan from US ART magazine, excerpts are in the Newsletter "Tales"
Go to it now
(The photos and artwork shown with this text did not appear in the original magazine article. They are added here for historical interest. The images which did appear in Art Impressions can be found at the bottom of this web page.)
If popularity and increasing sales are any indication, she is well on her way. Self-confident, ambitious and extremely well organized, when not at her regular job she devotes as much time as possible to painting in her Vancouver apartment. Her annual production is 20 to 25 paintings, which exceeds that of some full-time artists. If this conjures visions of some driven, brooding artist slaving away in lonely isolation, be assured it isn't so. She is outgoing, friendly and blessed with a good sense of humor.
Sharrock attributes her steady output to having several paintings in progress at the same time. "The oils don't dry very fast, so I block two or three out, then let them dry while I work on something else. At times I may have as many as six or seven on the go."
While others might be worn down by juggling a hectic schedule that involves working, painting and frequent trips abroad, Sharrock also indulges in hobbies that include dressmaking, making jewelry and silk-knotting and stringing bead necklaces.
"Lots of things interest me, particularly things I can do with my hands. I'll study something and work at it until I feel I know as much as possible about it, then go on to something else. I don't drop what I've learned; it's just filed away for future reference so I can continue with the learning process."
 Photograph of White House Farm, circa 1978 |
Sharrock recalls quite clearly the grey, dreary day that her interest in painting was born. "I was just past my third birthday when my grandmother took me from our farm near Ormskirk to visit some cousins near Preston. It was raining, and they were at the kitchen table with a paint box and a jam jar full of water, painting. Well, I had never seen anyone painting before, and I went absolutely nuts over it. When we went home, nothing would do but I had to have my own paint box so the next week my grandmother went to town and bought me one - the first of many as it turned out.
"My parents really encouraged me, but even when I got quite good it was always looked at as a hobby, never something at which I could ever earn a living. Given our location and station in life, becoming a professional artist was never even a consideration. As a result other than the basics taught at school, I have never taken any formal art training.
"I had an idyllic childhood, growing up on a lovely old subsistence farm with a horse, two cows and lots of chickens running around. It was sort of picture book farming, very old-fashioned and traditional. We didn't even have a tractor until the late fifties; my granddad had always used a horse and cart.
"There were always lots of birds around, and I've always adored them. When I first started painting, my efforts were usually the little birds in the trees at our farm." She pauses and chuckles. "Nothing has really changed; when I pick up a brush there is usually wildlife involved
"I love painting the cats, especially tigers. I've been painting them ever since I was 13, which was when I sold one to a friend of my father. He said he was going to frame it and put it over his television, so when the program got boring he could look at the tiger instead." She laughs. "Of course we only had two channels in those days, so it didn't take much to become bored."
While still quite young, Sharrock decided she would some day travel around the world. Being of a practical nature, she not only dreamt about it, she also started making plans. Feeling that foreign languages would be an asset, at age 14 she dropped biology and art from her school curriculum in favor of French, Latin and Spanish. Later, with school finished, she attended the Liverpool College of Commerce to train as an executive secretary. It was a choice calculated to fit with her travel plans, for she determined that wherever there is a business, there is usually a need for well-qualified secretaries.
Although admittedly favoring the Orient, she often organized photo safaris for herself and friends in places like South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, where she stocks up on animal and background material.
An accomplished photographer, Sharrock employs a pair of old, well-used Olympus OM-1 35mm cameras to record animal studies and background material. "I always use my own photographs. I do sketch, but mostly to design the layout and composition. I prefer photographs because the little critters won't sit still long enough for me to sketch them. I want a finished painting to be as accurate in regards to feathers or fur details and colours as possible, and you can't beat a sharp photo for reference. This isn't to imply I don't like sketching, because I do. I sometimes do finished pencil drawings just for fun, but not very often - I suppose just to prove I can still do it."
During the years Sharrock devoted to school studies and work, there had been no time for painting. However, while living in London she acquired a book of English birds illustrated by Raymond Harris-Ching, and The Artist in Africa by David Shepherd. "There's no doubt that those two books rekindled by interest in painting and influenced my desire to portray realism. Since the, Robert Bateman, Ron Parker, John Seerey-Lester and Carl Brenders have also been sources of influence and inspiration.
"I'm all for realism in art. Impressionism is quite nice, too, often very pleasant to look at." She pauses, then laughs, "No expressionism, though. I'm afraid anything I have to say about abstract art wouldn't be printable."
Sharrock feels that painting is a continuing learning process and that her style is still in transition. "It's become more detailed, and much more dramatic in the use of light and dark. It will probably continue to go in the direction of what I call real realism, which shouldn't be confused with perfection. I try to emphasize realism to the point where the subject seems poised to jump right off the canvas at you. The background is realistic, too, in every way. You can see that when you look at it, but it's not the major point of focus; that is on the main subject."
Something else that has developed as time has passed is patience, which Sharrock claims was lacking when she was younger. "Now I put a lot more time and effort into finishing a painting. Most artists say that as the years pass they get looser, that rather than striving for detailed realism they become a bit more impressionistic. Not me; I've become tighter and even more detailed. I like it that way - it's quite challenging and very satisfying."
When a friend recently tried to describe his first impression of Joan Sharrock's paintings, he was in danger of running out of superlatives. At my suggestion he had visited her November 1988, show at the Royal Oak Gallery in Brampton, Ontario. "I was skeptical," he admitted. "There are so many mediocre artists in the wildlife field that I wasn't expecting too much. I certainly wasn't prepared for what I saw. She's marvelous! Such astonishing realism and detail, and those totally relaxed poses of the subjects. Unbelievable talent!"
One of the paintings that had impressed him was titled Barn Owls. When he mentioned this to Sharrock, she laughed and recalled that while working on it, her sister had telephoned from England. "While we were talking, Jean asked what I was working on. I described these two barn owls perched in a lovely old rustic barn with wooden beams and walls, the bales of golden-yellow straw, the leather horse halter hanging on a bolt, and the old coal oil lantern. Jean said it sounded quite lovely. 'Oh, it is," I said. "The only problem is, right now it's all so pristine and clean that it looks like someone has spent hours dusting and polishing everything. But as soon as I finish the feathers of the last owl, I'm putting in lots of dust and cobwebs - and, of course, a few strategically placed streaks of white down those wooden beams.'"
"And it worked beautifully," my friend concluded. "You watch, that young lady is going to be a real success story."
No argument there. After all, that's exactly the way Joan Sharrock has it planned.
Read another magazine article on Joan Sharrock from US Art Magazine April 1995 in the Newletter "Tales" issue number 4 from Autumn/Winter 1995 Go to it now The following artwork appeared with the original 1989 article in Art Impressions magazine:
"Great Horned Owl in a Pine" 24 x 18 ins. oil. "Leopard's Tree" 22 x 28 ins. oil (available as a print) "Elephant at Kilimanjaro" 16 x 20 ins. oil "Damaraland Zebras" 20 x 30 ins. oil
© JOAN SHARROCK copyright 1981 - Painting of memories of harvest time during her childhood. Grandma brings tea to Grandad who is building a stack of wheat sheaves. That's Joan patting the dog, the horse was called Prince. Oil on Canvas, 16x20 ins. Collection of the artist's sister.
Painting of a snowy day in Hampstead, London, where the artist lived from 1968 to 1972. Painting done in 1977, 14 x 18 ins. oil, © JOAN SHARROCK copyright 1977 collection of the artist's sister.
After college she worked in London, England, gaining experience and saving money. In 1972 she left England on the first step of realizing her dreams and soon attained a job in the travel industry in Canada. Now a seasoned world traveler, she has experience the Orient, Europe, India, Africa and South America.
© JOAN SHARROCK copyright 1987 
© JOAN SHARROCK copyright 1988
© JOAN SHARROCK copyright 1987 
© JOAN SHARROCK copyright 1985
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