ABOUT (cont) Her freelance work evolved to higher end design projects and illustration work. Clients included companies such as Aussie Hair Care Products in New York City, N.Y., Glen Raven Mills in Burlington, N.C., and Greater Charlotte Biz magazine in Charlotte, N.C. Kearns’s work also extended to architectural renderings and illustration commissions, which included schools, homes, churches and historic buildings.

“Commissioned artwork often allows me to experiment with topics and styles I may not have tried otherwise,” Kearns said. “I like working on new concepts-- it is like putting a puzzle together for the first time.”

One of her commissioned limited edition prints was presented to former President Jimmy Carter during his visit to Concord, N.C. in 2000. The work is displayed at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, GA.

Her strong composition skills, infused with both imagination and realism, transports viewers to remote and overlooked places like an abandoned hunt club on the North Carolina coast or a beach path well worn by children’s footprints.

“I believe that I am drawn to Sharon's work because it affords me a private viewing of an almost secret place: Sharon's secret place,” Raymond Voelpel, owner of Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro, N.C., said.  “Viewing her paintings is an opportunity to see, in great detail, a place otherwise unavailable to others.  There is a kind of alienation and yet, despite the secretiveness, there is something in each of her works that our prior experiences lend us an understanding of.”

Her ultimate goal, is to create artwork that evokes both emotion, passion and a sense of wonder for those that view her work. “So, I continue the journey, tapping into a gift that I am still trying to understand.”