Sharlena Wood

Summer 2023 • I landed in Arizona, suffocated by the flames of the Canadian wildfires, exploring washi and symbolic media combinations. Fire is a life-long subject for me, so it is very exciting to explore works with a current voice that feels like a new beginning. I leaned into black watercolour paper works of flowers and cacti and ocean moments of curiosity. Then soared towards the land of ironwood trees and passionate skies, where my colour palette changed intuitively. A heartfelt embrace that I hope will continue in my soul and studio wherever I go, for a very long time. Thank you, Arizona, for the inspiration!

I find myself sitting with the lake flowers most often …

Flowers have always been a huge inspiration, with lessons beyond colour and textures … flowers have taught me about life, power, respect, appreciation, and impermanence.

This album reflects works new (2023) to old (prior to 2009) in that order …. a progression of experimentation, expression and passion.

A collection of works created as a conversation with trees that represent powerful connections to the human spirit and experience.

An exploration of grief, embracing emotions, therapy, compassion, society & social media, substance abuse, addiction and mental health after the loss of my brother’s life, July 2021 - sketchbook series + two significant works created in the midst.

Recent experimental works.

Mixed media works inspired by NASA ariel photos.

Look in Gallery - Available Works

“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” — Albert Einstein

Prints • click Prints in menu
Some originals are available • Look in Gallery - Available Works

The decision to research, draw, and share these creatures has been one of the most difficult in my life, and I have learned so much. It’s inspired a strong-rooted connection to all life including hundreds of thousands of critically endangered species. Bravely facing heartbreaking reality, education, and responsibility, understanding the process of acceptance and healing, appreciation and respect, and incredible passion to go forward - wanting to be better, wanting to protect and love - to focus on and create solutions for a world that is inclusive of LOVE & ALL ♥

The series is designed in simple BLACK & WHITE charcoal on paper - a concept inspired by the reality that the creatures I was setting out to capture were at risk and near extinction, and my thoughts kept travelling towards the terrible fate they would soon be gone. Extinct. No more. What seemed an imminent fate for many creatures was impossible to ignore for my imagination, which then glimpsed flashes of ghostly spirits - faded memories of magnificent creatures that once roamed our beautiful planet. The second piece in the series that I drew in 2012 was the Black Rhino - Critically Endangered at the time, this beautiful creature was announced officially ‘extinct’ this past summer 2013. They say intuition is everything....

Throughout the series, and especially near the end, it seemed impossible to decide what to draw next. There are hundreds of thousands of endangered species, so it’s truly an eclectic and random selection that inspired me at the time.

I simply could not draw them all, I had to choose. It took weeks sometimes in between to decide. The final piece ‘Table Mountain Ghost Frog’ seemed appropriate in the spirit of the journey and message.

I do hope this series resonates and stirs some corners of your heart. Creating these works was an act of courage and desire to partake in the only way I know how to help create awareness. I don’t want to see these creatures disappear, and there are some serious questions and decisions before us all. Find the courage to look these creatures in the eye ~ We are one, and our species especially have a responsibility to honour all other living species. Let’s work together to inspire deeper thinking and change and raise our own consciousness....to create a future that is diverse, beautiful, and unified.... a future that is unrecognizable from our past.

The beauty of trees has always been a beloved fascination for me. I am so drawn to them, trees will no doubt be a recurring theme throughout my life. This particular series started with an event that happened on July 4, 2006. My grandparents had been evacuated as a forest fire had grown to 11,000 hectares and raced to about five kilometers north of where they live in the town of Tumbler Ridge, BC. Years later when I visited them again, there were still acres and acres of burnt trees. Standing in the midst of these burnt forests had a symbolic, emotional impact on me. As a self-taught artist, I know what it feels like to truly carve one’s own path, like fire through a forest. I was moved by an unspoken beauty found in this somber devastation, that the trees seemed to be holding their ground after the fire passed, emanating strength and hope of renewal. 

I hope the combination of detailed drawing combined with beautiful collisions of paint and other media invite viewers to be curious and imaginative about the artistic process, along with the story behind the work. The work emanates an overall somber mood through the subject, the limited colour palette, and use of charcoal, but rather than the darkness taking over, there is always a glimmer of peaceful and positive energy in the splashes of high contrast light. It is meaningful to me that the works are created on unique wood and paper supports with a signature charcoal pencil to render the burnt trees, and two smaller works have been custom framed with burnt (charred) wood by a fellow artist Scott Brant who lives in San Francisco, CA. 

For those who use music/art as a door to their soul, to heal, to realize that in the morning’s not the way you feel like you did the night you cried. Never let anyone or anything dim your light: "I survived the forest fire. Cindered and brittle, the slightest touch may break the shell -- but my roots are stronger than you. I know the time will come when I am drenched again, new to the world. When you see the Velveteen and nothing more, it's a Beautiful Strange World when you see it like a Distant Star."  ~ Kidney Thieves Dedication

These works feature a signature technique of painting and drawing media that I have developed over many years, and have shared in many art classes, notably in the Craftsy class ‘Wildlife: Acrylic Mixed Media’.

Magical Creatures ~ An exploration of imagination!

Prints available • click link in the menu

The original drawings are part of
‘The Sketchbook Project’ 2013
#S99150
Library Call Number: 201.24-6

“Collaboration has always been remarkable fuel for me as an artist. Collective energy & connection with others adds magic & life to each mark that is made. In this book, I took on a theme that challenged my imagination, to personally evolve and share the evolution of wild ideas! Some hybrids are quirky & fun, some deeply meaningful. All created with much thought and heart, and will surely inspire!”

It’s been an honour to commemorate many furry friends throughout my life. Each one with a heartwarming story and spirit, cherished forever in a classic charcoal portrait.

Otherworldly … these inspirations are out there - literally (in the world, as they’ve all sold) and figuratively (in my soul). This archive from over 10 yrs ago makes my so heart happy with themes of societal abstractions, space, psychedelics and the mysterious, that have nurtured my imagination and spirit throughout my personal life.