Artist Bio, Shirlee Zane

I started oil painting as a young child. My mother was a school teacher and saw talent in my drawings, so when I was only seven years old she hired a professional artist to teach me to oil paint.  I took every opportunity to study art in the years ahead, including college and with private teachers, such as a professor in Caracas, Venezuela. We painted every week on his veranda looking out over the city. My skills greatly improved. When I got to Santa Rosa a couple of years later, I turned an old garden shed into a painting studio.

Then when I married my English husband in 2004 and moved into his large home with our three teenagers, he set up an old television room off the kitchen into a studio for me. It had tons of storage and fabulous large windows with Northern light. For 22 years I worked as an Executive both running a nonprofit, Council on Aging, then as an elected County Supervisor. I painted almost every Saturday in my studio and did some shows, commissions and donated many paintings to Art for Life, which raised funds for people with HIV.

My love for art and joy for living can be seen in my vibrant paintings. I am attracted to the styles of Impressionism and Realism, but mostly I combine them to create Shirleeism. Despite the tragedies in my life, I view the world as a “glass overflowed”.  There is always beauty around us everywhere we look, but we must take the time to see it.

Indeed, I have experienced grief as a force within me to become a better artist. As you take the time to view some of these paintings, look at the clouds and how they bring hope and darkness together. That is art, and also life.