Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sherry Adams Foster. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sherry thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started at my local night school taking 2 classes, one in oil and one in watercolor. Sometime later, I started classes at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Association, where I was, and would remain, the worst in the class for several years. I tolerated this because I realized that I was happier when I was painting than when I was not, even when the results were not encouraging.

The class was from 7:00-10:00 pm. Eventually, I saw that I was doing better from 7:00-9:00, but messed up every picture by the end of class. At this time I was 48 years old and had just been diagnosed with ADD. It turns out, I couldn’t concentrate on one picture for three hours. In fact, I wasn’t concentrating as well as many people, even though I thought I was. With this understanding, new strategies, and medication, I starting selling my work about six months later. Since then, I have taken workshops where I learned new techniques and am enjoying painting much more now that I like my pictures.

Sherry, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

After a short career as an actor, I worked as an Occupational Therapist. Being a professional artist was never part of the plan, and even though I belong to Lawrence Street Gallery as well as to Michigan Artisan’s Corner, a group that shows at the Michigan Design Center, and I’m also a member of the Michigan Watercolor Society, I have never supported myself selling paintings. I am very glad I don’t have to because the pressure might take a lot of the pleasure out of it.

And also I like to eat.

I do take commissions on a very limited basis, and enter local shows. I’d be glad to pull out everything I have if someone wants to see it. I have just started a web site at www.sherryfosterartworks.com. I also enjoy making monotypes, relief prints and etchings. My work is representational, often of the natural world, and I usually use saturated colors with high contrast. I love dramatic backlighting.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal for my art is to share a moment of presence, and the peace, wonder, or gratitude that comes with it. When I see sunlight spilling over rocks or trees, for example, it takes my breath away, all thinking stops, and I feel happy to be alive and in the place where this happens. I want that for everyone. If the person who buys my art catches a glimpse of it while walking through a room, and has a moment – even slightly like that – I would feel fulfilled.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The one part of my journey which I may never fully understand is my persistence in the face of lack of skill and little encouragement in learning to paint. Though I loved tennis, I never wanted to play squash knowing I would never do it well. Many other activities were edited out of my life because I didn’t see myself ever being successful. Why, then, would I willingly sign up to be disappointed week after week in class for years?

When people look at my work and say wistfully, “I could never do that. I have no talent.” I quickly disagree saying, “I had no special gift. If you worked as long and as hard as I did, you’d probably be much better than I am.” I sincerely believe this to be true. And yet, there must have been something. I remember always feeling jealous when someone was introduced as an “artist.” I’d say to myself, how come they get to be an artist and I don’t?

Finally, at 34, while working in a medical field and raising a family, I followed that feeling and took up brush and paint at Royal Oak night school. I am very grateful that I didn’t wait until I retired. The process took so long, that I might still be storing my classroom failures under the bed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sherryfosterartworks.com www.lawrencestreetgallery.com
• Facebook: Birmingham Society of Women Painters

Image Credits
Photos of Sherry Adams Foster watercolors by Eric Law.