Since she was a toddler, Sharon Markwardt has loved Nature, critters, and creativity. Raised in a family of outdoorsy artists, engineers, and scientists, she grew to embrace accuracy and detail as well as creativity. When she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, she minored in Biology.

Decades later, the two disciplines are reflected in her signature style–anatomically accurate animals with bright, lively, and often humorous personalities. This style emerged when, as a beginning rider, Sharon took a high-speed fall from her mare, breaking a tailbone and hitting her head. She got back on.

The boldness required for horsemanship seeped into her art, resulting in daring close-focus compositions and a bright color palette. Breaking rules in art requires a certain degree of fearlessness. She uses the colors she sees in her photos and “cranks them up a notch” as she paints. Many of her subjects are personal friends, including her own horses and donkey, a friend’s bison, and the neighbor’s longhorns.

Markwardt’s primary goal with her art is to induce emotions in her viewers–to leave them with a sense of strength or a laugh. She’s happiest when hearing from collectors that her work brings smiles to their days.