Artist's Bio

Graphics specialist and cartographer (GIS) for the environmental division of this global engineering and architectural consulting firm. Responsible for development of graphics, cartography, web design and creation, and displays.

Adjunct lecturer. Teach college students introductory Earth Science courses; such as Geology lab and Geography. Designing own curricula, create exams, reports and exams. Make grade charts. Test and grade students.

Secretarial Assistant and Lab Assistant filing student’s records, light typing and assistant publisher of the “GeoNews” newsletter. Also maintain the geological collections and displays. Designed newsletter using Office and Corel Draw.

In addition, freelance computer tutor and tech.

Planning and leading nature and historical tours with a partner. Providing information, patrolling, working at special events, and radioing for assistance, when required.

Physical Science Instructor at the summer programs for educators at Audubon Education Center, Greenwich, CT, teaching educators hands on methods using nature to incorporate into the classroom.

Made and sold original paintings in acrylic on mostly large canvas, some triptychs. Kept personal and business records, filed business taxes, purchased supplies and hired assistants as needed. Sold paintings to Robert Aaron Young, Catalda-Ravel, and Circle Fine Arts and private clients.

Commissioned to paint murals by Jeanne Austin, wife of the president of Coca-Cola. She’d met me and purchased my work through Mackie Demast Assoc. I flew to Atlanta and stayed at her residence and painted murals of surrealistic exteriors and an interior in two rooms.

Some of my paintings were hung in the boardrooms of the Coca-Cola’s Headquarters in Atlanta.

Basically I paint realistically, blending nature and geometry. I enjoy seeing color and subtlety, with a brilliant splash of one hue to catch the eye, and I enhance the color and depth with shadow and light. Using natural objects, I redesign them to flow within the space they’re in… Though I never ‘copy’ nature, I try to capture its exuberance. We all have secret places, gardens of the mind. The painting is like having a “garden” to enter. Nature’s designs may seem chaotic at first glance, I strive to show natures forms combining, its balance and symmetry. I never finish exploring any one area of my painting. I am always striving for perfection.

“The paintings of Sherry Felix are beautiful studies of nature, suffused with light that casts intricately patterned shadows of the surrounding environment. With consummate skill, Felix creates subtly balanced and harmonious compositions contrasting the soft curves of natural forms with the precise geometry of manmade objects.

The artist was born in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1948. As a child she traveled extensively throughout Europe and Australia with her mother, also an artist. In 1964, she attended the London School of Fine Arts and, at the age of 16, she had her first showing in a gallery in Chiswick, London. During 1965-‘69, she studied at the Art Students league in New York.”

I served my apprenticeship during my early career working for commercial establishments. My fellow artists were my best teachers. They taught me art history and explained techniques of ancient as well as modern artists. Painting full time in many styles and mediums has given my hand the ability to paint what my mind sees.

“Felix attributes her interest in detail and realism to the influence of the paintings of Edward Hopper, Caravaggio, and Andrew Wyeth. However, her subject matter, portraying luxuriant foliage and animal life, is uniquely her own. She achieves her rich, three-dimensional, intricate paintings by building up layer upon layer of acrylic paint on her canvas.”

“Pioneer Square Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by seven artists from New York’s Soho district, which shares Pioneer Square’s avant-garde spirit and enthusiasm for the arts. The artists selected for this showing Elba Damast, Sherry Felix, Kenneth Kaye, Jochen Labriola, Peter Mackie, Michael J. Griffin and Paul Rogers. Innovative young artists, currently exhibiting their works in Soho and beginning to secure museum credentials. We feel that they are particularly important, and that their works complement the artistic vitality of Pioneer Square. Each approaches his or her subject with unique sensitivity to make a major artistic statement. We believe that, in the coming years, they will continue to exemplify Pioneer Square’s and Soho’s pioneering artistic spirit. Lisa Allison, Gallery Director, Pioneer Square Gallery, 314 First Avenue South, New York, NY”

“Sherry Lynn Felix is a young woman Artist who was born in Bethesda Maryland. She got her start painting at the Art Students League in New York, then went to London to continue her studies. She spent several years there experimenting with various media at different art schools, and was given exhibitions regularly at their annual shows as well as at local London galleries. Now living in New York, she paints a variety of subjects, reflecting the many facets of her interests and range of her activities.”

I have advanced my career in New York by selling my works through commercial companies. At present, I sell about 100 paintings a year at Karl Mann Associates (1970-1977) and Mackie Demast (1978-1982). I paint realistic plants in stylized rooms, with a play of light and shadow. Light streams across the painting and the shadow of the plant on the wall assumes as much reality as the plant. My interest in Native American cultures has led me to paint detailed renditions of baskets, sometimes placed on tables and using the shadows they cast to emphasize their substantiality. I love classical art and paint dogs and horses, emulating the style of Stubbs and Dutch style floral paintings. I devised a method, and antiquing mediums, to imitate the three dimensional quality of the oil paint and the patina of age on acrylic paintings. I also make paintings of cars, I love the flowing lines and reflective qualities. In addition, I paint backdrops and designs for department stores, such as Bloomingdale’s, with my mentor, Bill Skilling, I design wallpaper, silkscreen paintings, signs, and murals for private clients.

As a commercial fine artist I made paintings for customers and sold my own paintings, stretched canvas, ordered and inventoried supplies. Helped reproduce some of my works into silkscreen and lithographic editions.

I made original and “in the style of” paintings. Impressionist, classical paintings antiqued by a method Bill Skilling and I devised, tromp-l’oeil, Early American, abstract and modern-realist. I made antique signs, sculptures, painted frames, i.e., faux bois, gold leaf, tromp-l’oeil, mock tortoise-shell. I devised a method for making a mock tortoise-shell finish on paper frames. I painted in casein (tempera) on Masonite, oil painting with brush and/or palette knife, and acrylic on canvas. Learned how to match colors and work in many different mediums. I also worked at translating some of our designs into silkscreen reproductions. As second in command to the principal designer and supervisor, Bill Skilling, I trained new employees in the methods we used. Teaching requires diplomacy as the artists often feel their own ways are better for the job. We assessed the individual’s talents, finding the appropriate work for each. 

“Art Decoratif is a collection of decorative and fine art; more than 400 subjects of all types, including traditional, contemporary, and abstract paintings and, prints; from a miniature to a mural. For Karl Mann Associates, 232 East 19th Street, New York, NY 10022. The Art Decorotif Collection was designed by William Skilling, with the assistance of Sherry Felix.

William Skilling: Born 1939, Clyde Valley Scotland. Academic training at The Glasgow School of Art, where he was stimulated by the school’s strong Art Nouveau tradition (the building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, one of the early, important Art Nouveau designers). Mr. Skilling spent several years in Paris and Amsterdam, studying and working. His works have included stage design in London and New York as well as commissioned murals for many public areas around the country. Now divides his time between New York and Marbella, Spain.

Sherry Felix: Born 1948, Bethesda, Maryland. Studied at The Art Students League, New York, and London but is basically self-educated. Before focusing on painting, she led the usual eclectic New York life, working as an artist’s model, making hat racks that looked like trees, and Broadway dancer.”

Artist, Photographer, Graphic Art and Web Design. Fine art painting, commercial art, commercial fine art, computer graphics, digital image enhancement, 3D visualizations, Website design, cartography [GIS], graphic design, layouts and typography, Illustrations, brochures, presentations, sign painting, lettering, sculpture, department store displays, and photography.

Using acrylic, oils, tempera, brushes, and airbrush. Digital art with computer tablet and pen. Adobe CC: Photoshop, Lightroom, Dreamweaver [coding in HTML 5, CSS 3, and using jQuery], Illustrator, InDesign, Corel Painter, Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and ESRI’s ArcGIS.