Artist Bio
Born in Queens, New York and living in Los Angeles since 1987, Sheila Fein is inspired by the changing world around her. Earning her BA in Design from Buffalo State College of New York, her concentration was on drawing, painting, printmaking, graphic design, writing, and photography. Sheila’s education as an artist has taken her everywhere from New York, to Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, and to Bath University in England.
Today, Sheila runs figurative workshops called Imaginings Sketch/People Sketchers. She teaches privately students of all ages helping them to release their individual drawing style. Her fine art, Fein Fantasy Portraits, and illustrations have been collected by individuals and corporations in the Greater Los Angeles area as well as across the USA and abroad. Her work has been published in numerous on line interviews, books, and magazines.
Sheila loves to curate shows for artists and to participate in solo and group exhibitions. She feels you never stop learning and it is important to not only go inward to discover yourself, but to be part of the art community and share the journey.
In addition to being a fine artist, Sheila works as an illustrator. She recently illustrated the book “Mama Graciela’s Secret” for Maclaren-Cochrane Publishing and “My Milk Will Go, Our Love Will Grow” for an independent author published by Ingram Spark. Sheila is a PAL Artist and a member of (SCBWI) Society of Children’s Book Writing and Illustration as well as the Colored Pencil Society. Sheila is busy working on children’s books she has written and is illustrating books by different authors.
Artist Statement
I view the world in a fantastical and dreamlike way and I am enamored with contemporary popular culture. Everything is always new to me and I delight in experimentation. Odd moments with people, the natural world, and objects catch my attention. I seek to surprise the viewer and myself with unexpected perspectives. My philosophy is to work without the critic on my shoulder and let my imagination be my guide. I am about letting go and following the strongest voice in my head.
Style & Form
As an artist, Sheila Fein makes her unique study of the imagination a reality through classical drawing techniques. She practices this philosophy at her weekly workshops. Dreamlike and fantastical, her diverse body of work is filled with bright images with a touch of the surreal and nods to popular culture. She works with many mediums and of late is concentrating on the woman as the modern figure. She uses multi media and oil pastels on cardboard to create her newest figurative work, and the Tombow ink brush for her “Just a Line” series. Her love of experimentation with mediums draws her to acrylic paint, oil, oil pastels, pastels, the colored pencil, the Tombow brush pens, and digital illustration and design. She feels that each medium has brought her a new form of expression.
Sample Collectors
Her artwork is in the collections of corporations, galleries, and private individuals in the United States and abroad. As a lover of popular culture, Sheila is proud to name actress, Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers Movies), Bob Marx (the Marx Brothers’ estate), Richard Riordan (former mayor of Los Angeles), and actress Connie Stevens as some of her collectors. In addition, “Transition,” Sheila’s portrait of pre-inaugural Bill Clinton, has been in the collection of the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas since 2005. Recently, “Eyes on Pears”, an acrylic on paper was just seen on the NBC show Superstore (2017), starring America Ferrara.