Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Josh Ritter, The Be Good Tanyas, Uncle Earl, Richard Thompson, Pentangle, Dead Can Dance, Counting Crows, John Lennon, The Duhks, Solas, Loreena McKennitt, John Hiatt

"To Kill a Mockingbird",
everything by Barbara Kingsolver,
"Cold Mountain",
anything by Alice Hoffman,
Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything",
"Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins,
"The Museum at Purgatory" by Nick Bantock,
"The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra,
"The Secret Life of Bees",
"Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert,
"Lost Mountain" by Eric Reese,
Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, "Art and Fear", just to name a few...(I read A LOT)

Little Big Man
In America
American Beauty
Vanilla Sky
A Fish Called Wanda
Dances With Wolves
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
The War
Crash
Cold Mountain
Nell
What the Bleep Do We Know/ down the Rabbit Hole
Rain Man
The "Planet Earth" series
The Big Lebowski

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I think I was born to be an artist; I have clear memories of drawing since the age of two. After earning my BFA in Studio Art and BA in Art Ed. from Northern Kentucky University in 1993, I had some success exhibiting and selling my work for several years. I also completed half a Master's degree at the prestigious Art Academy of Cincinnati.
However, I wasn't able to get a full-time position teaching art, so I had to switch majors in order to support myself and my children, and had little time to make art. This 'break' in my work was strictly due to financial necessity, among other unpleasant circumstances. It was all worth it, though, because both of my children turned out to be awesome and successful human beings. I consider raising them to be my finest accomplishment.
I finally finished my Master's in Special Ed., and work full time as a teacher. Now attempting to re-enter the art "business" after an absence of about five years or so, I'm very excited but also kind of scared; things have changed considerably in the art world. More than anything, though, I'm happy to be once again doing what I was meant to do.

Lately I'm learning to do lots of things on the computer which I never imagined I would do, but it seems to be a necessity now. Surprisingly, some of it is actually fun!
Please check out my painting-a-day blog:
sharmond.blogspot.com/

In no particular order: making art, looking at work by other artists, my family, my dogs, nature in all its forms, good music, books, storms, Kinneyconnick Creek, sustainability, honesty, a fire in the fireplace on a cold night

war, litter, mountaintop-removal coal mining, people who refuse to think for themselves, the WalMart-ization of America, greed, lies, aggressive drivers, learned helplessness

gardening, reading, log house construction, photography, hiking, playing with my dogs, looking at the sky, natural sciences, rocks and fossils, learning about anything