Jonesboro Human Development Center (JHDC) resident Sharon is known as a helpful and funny person who enjoys being outdoors, doing word searches, and chatting with those around her. She says one of her biggest challenges in life was learning how to walk, explaining that she had to learn with the help of braces. However, Sharon believes she can overcome obstacles and achieve her goals by trying her best and taking the risk to see how far she can go. She encourages others to “just go for it.” That frame of mind was evident as Sharon excelled in her first painting project for The Blue Umbrella.
Elisha Fore, who led Sharon’s art class at JHDC, recalls that “when Sharon began working on art projects for The Blue Umbrella, it became clear that she would be able to go quite far with her art. She was receptive to direction and genuinely interested in the progression of her skillset, taking tips and advice I would give her and putting them to work right away.”
In fact, when Sharon and her peers at JHDC each began paintings of a forest, her natural creativity inspired those around her. She filled her serene forest with bright flowers, a fence in the back to make it look like an orchard, and a cloudy moon in the night sky. After seeing Sharon’s work, other residents then began adding flowers, fences, and moons to their paintings as well. Her painting was later entitled “The Blooming Orchard.”
Sharon says painting is fun, and she feels creating art is what she does best. But as much as Sharon enjoys creating art, she’s even more pleased when her artwork sells. When she finished her first painting, she was happy to send it to The Blue Umbrella, hopeful that someone would like her art enough to buy it. She looks forward to going “yard sale-ing” with the money she earns.
Look for more of Sharon’s one-of-a-kind paintings at The Blue Umbrella!