Meet Sharon Florin

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sharon Florin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sharon below.

Sharon, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

As a painter of the New York urban landscape for the past 50 years I am always finding places and images in the city that find my way onto my canvases. Walking down a street, looking up and noticing a reflection on a building facade, seeing a gargoyle peering down, noticing the way the light bathes NY’s iconic buildings, all are the sparks that ignite my imagination. I capture what is here today that might be gone tomorrow and have been called an urban documentarian. There are always ups and downs with being a visual artist – financial challenges, finding venues in which to exhibit, connecting collectors with my work and so on. I know that these challenges can be overcome and that often an unexpected opportunity presents itself when I least expect it. Commissioned paintings are a challenge and it is so gratifying when I capture a building or place for a collector who will cherish the painting for years to come. After being introduced to oil painting when I was 15 I decided then that this is what I wanted to do with my life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Most days I head to my studio in Long Island City, Queens which I’ve had since 1980 when if the light is good, I work on the painting currently on the easel. On overcast and dark days I take care of the business stuff that goes along with being a working artist – answering emails, entering exhibitions, doing paperwork, wrapping paintings for shipping, etc. As I work from my photographs I sift through them, deciding which image I will paint, determining the size and getting materials ready to start work. My main focus is doing the work, painting that which inspires me. There is nothing like “being in the zone” when the painting is going well and the time just flies by.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Studying art in public school, college and the Art Students League of New York really helped to shape my skills as an artist. Working with different instructors, seeing the work of the students around me, going to galleries and museums regularly and learning how to really look at art are all important to developing one’s skills. Being consistent in doing the work. For many years I worked a 4pm-midnight shift in a word processing/desktop publishing department in a large company so that I would have the days free to paint as I work by natural light. Artists need to be prepared to do the work, year in and year out.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I have been painting professionally for many years and as long as I can still see, hold a brush and be excited and inspired by what I see around me, I will continue to create art. Artists don’t retire, not as long as the are doing what they love to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sharonflorinart.com
• Instagram: @florinsharon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.florin.3/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-florin-8964205/
• Other: https://sjfnewyork.blogspot.com

Image Credits

©Sharon Florin