Sandra Sharkey is an artist who paints using Chinese watercolors.

She was born in England and moved to Calgary, Canada in 1988. Although she did not start to pursue painting in a serious manner until 1999, she has always been interested in art and has experimented with the capabilities of various media before becoming interested in Chinese watercolor painting.

Sandra was introduced to the art of Chinese watercolor painting by the Melbourne based artist, Christina Eu-Huang Chung, during a 6 month stay in Melbourne in 1997. She began taking lessons in Chinese Watercolors with Calgary artist Linda Chan in 1999. Linda has instructed Sandra in both the classical and contemporary style of Chinese Watercolor painting.

Chinese painting uses ink as the basis for many pieces and uses the white spaces as an integral part of the picture. Because of the minimal use of color in the landscape paintings the strength of the brush strokes is more significant than in the Western style of painting. The appeal of Chinese watercolor painting comes from the ability to bring life to flowers, birds and trees with simple brushstrokes. Each element – paper, brush, ink, paint and the white spaces work together to provide the whole picture.

The paintings on this website are all ink and/or watercolor on rice paper. They are painted with traditional Chinese brushes. Once completed, they are mounted in a traditional manner on two sheets of rice paper. These photos were taken with the paintings on boards. When finished, they are signed and stamped with a "chop".

Sandra is currently Past President of the Calgary Community Painters Society, and actively participates in their community events in NW and SW Calgary. She is also a member of Chinook Artists, a small group of artists that meet weekly to paint together. In addition to this she regularly displays her work at the Art Tree.

Additional artwork by Sandra Sharkey can be viewed at the Sandra Sharkey Online Gallery.

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