Meet Sonsoles Shack

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonsoles Shack.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
When I was little, I used to say: “My life is so boring, nothing ever happens to me.” I obviously did not appreciate what I had, and did not know what was coming!. I was born in Madrid, Spain. My father is a world renown sculptor, and my mother an oil painter, and they collected art, so my house looked like an art museum. Although I lived surrounded by art and loved drawing and painting from an early age, I was also fascinated by science, and biology in particular. So I ended up studying science and pursuing my dream of moving to the United States in 1987. I got married and became a US citizen a few years later. I received a Molecular Biology and Genetics degree from the University of Maryland with a GPA of 4.0 and was valedictorian. I was fortunate enough to work in the National Institutes of Health (Maryland) in cancer research for about 10+ years, and then in the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, AZ. All along my artistic passion was in the back burner, and I tried to draw and paint when I could, but that was not nearly enough.

After having worked 27 years in research labs, I was laid off in 2013. I decided then to get back to the arts, I studied books, took classes, and workshops at the Scottsdale Artists School with Amery Bohling, Phil Beck, and James Coulter, and later in Prescott, AZ with Chris Saper, Robert Goldman, and David Harlan. Unfortunately, my husband’s health was severely deteriorating, and I spent much of my time as a caregiver, so painting went back to the back burner once again. The last years were extremely difficult for both of us. He passed away in 2016.

I finally feel I am significantly developing my artistic skills, and have discovered my passion for portraiture of both people and animals. I have been juried into several shows and received a few awards with the Portrait Artists of Arizona, and the ” 2018 Best and Brightest Show” at the Scottsdale Artists School. In the last few years, I have also taken a few budding artists under my wing. Teaching them is one of the biggest enjoyments I have right now, and they have made me grow further as an artist -and I still have a lot of growing to do!-. I am also thrilled to be teaching my first workshop on PanPastels this February 9th, 2019 at the Mountain Artists Guild in Prescott, AZ, of which I am a member.

Please tell us about your art.
As I have grown as an artist, I have learned a few things… One of them is how complex and difficult painting well really is. How many things we need to keep in mind at the same time during the painting process: design, drawing, value, color, edges, brushwork, light… R. Buckminster Fuller’s quote comes to mind: “The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know.” Painting is a great challenge I welcome every day. I have kind of pushed his challenge even further by focusing mainly on portraiture. My passion is painting portraits in oils and PanPastels (my media of choice).

What fascinates me about faces and their features is how tiny differences make us all unique, and how variations on gestures can depict mood and personality. Beyond getting a likeness, my goal is to represent the uniqueness, personality, and character of each subject, that being a child, an adult or any type of animal, including our furry four-legged children!

As an animal lover and admirer, I have recently undertaken “The Endangered Species Series,” to create awareness about the numerous large mammals that are in danger today because of loss of habitat, poaching and trophy hunting. I am working to support the World Wildlife Fund and donating 20% of my profit to them in order to help in their conservation efforts.

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