Sharon France

The ideas for my paintings come from my imagination, and memories of places that I have seen and been too, here the rural Midwestern Heartland. I paint my landscapes simply, from my heart. In my paintings, I want to capture the feeling of peaceful, quiet, isolation, found out in the country.

I have always had a fascination with old the old farmhouses and barns found on the old country farmsteads, here in the Heartland. Some of my fondest childhood memories and inspiration, are of the visits to my grandparent's remote Midwestern farm. Set down a very long lane, that eventually wound around the old barn, horse pasture, granary, corn crib, machine shed, chicken house, to then end up at their old farmhouse, with its white picket fence in the yard beyond. The croquet set would be on the lawn and Grandma would have one of her homemade pies waiting on the kitchen counter. A little bit of heaven here on earth, it felt to me back then when I was a kid!

My original landscape paintings are in private collections throughout the U.S.A. as well as in : Canada, France, Iceland, Portugal, Belgium, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and Australia.

One of my paintings hung in the American Embassy in Sri Lanka for two y...

I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northern Illinois University, with an emphasis in illustration.

One of Sharon’s paintings hung in the American Embassy in Sri Lanka for two years as part of the U.S.A., Art in Embassies program. Her paintings are part of the art collections of the University of North Dakota and Kishwaukee College in IL. Sharon's paintings were selected to hang in the "This Old House" Magazine's Show House "Cloudland Cottage". Sharon's paintings have been licensed as cover art on books including: “Love for the Land”, published by Yale University Press. Praying with your Whole Heart, Three Ways of Loving God, a heritage cook book "Family Favorites by Cinagro Farm," and on a classical music CD "Wingra Plays Dvorak". An article on her original landscape paintings was featured on the online art magazine “Empty Easel”.