Sharon Wilcox

Sharon lives in the beautiful Northern California town of Angels Camp

with her husband, Steve, and Jack Russell mix, Jackson.

Like most artists, Sharon loved to paint and draw as a child.

Her earliest memory of of being excited to make art dates back to when

she was 7 years old and received an over sized pad of paper and a

plastic tray of watercolors as a Christmas gift. The clean white sheets

seemed to offer endless possibilities and putting color on them kept

her occupied for hours.

Initially majoring in art in college, she left after 2 years to open a women’s

fitness facility in her native New Jersey, always intending to some day go

back and finish her degree. A marriage, two babies, and a move to California

kept that on the back burner, but she enjoyed creative pursuits whenever

time allowed. Ultimately, she enrolled at California State University Sacramento

when her children entered middle school, completing course work for a degree

in psychology, and then went to work for a Fortune 500 company as a sales executive.

Retiring in 2021 brought a time for reflection: What should she do with the

est of her life? There were so many wonderful options! It felt like she had that

exciting Christmas pad of blank paper in front of her once again.

Deciding she would take a year to figure it out, she kept herself happily

busy cooking, baking, and painting while she waited for the answer to come.

She made gallons of soup, dozens of bundt cakes and chicken pot pies,

and covered canvasses with paint, always running out of day before running

out of things to do. After the twelve months were up, she realized that she just

had one of the best years of her life. The answer to her big question was

actually there all along.

Sharon’s artwork is evolving and now includes a mixture of collage and painting.

She enjoys scouring thrift shops for books, papers, and other ephemera to put

into interesting compositions. Her “studio” is her huge, galvanized steel kitchen island,

where her table top easel and art supplies sit at one end. At the other end might be

a simmering crock pot, rising bread dough or a cake set out to cool.

It all just depends on the day.