Sheryl Brake Fine Art
FINE ART CAPTURING LIFE'S DETAILS
About
I paint in watercolor, drawn to everyday objects and details that are easy to overlook.
I’m often interested in materials that show their age—worn metal, old signage, things that have been used and handled over time. These are the kinds of objects that tend to sit quietly in the background, but when you slow down and really look, there’s a lot there.
My work is rooted in observation. I spend time studying how light moves across a surface, how color shifts within something that might seem simple at first glance. Watercolor is a natural fit for that—it allows for subtle layering and transparency, which helps me build up those small variations over time.
Before returning to painting, I spent more than four decades working as a CPA. That way of working still shows up in how I paint—patient, detail‑focused, and comfortable staying with something long enough to really understand it. In many ways, this feels like a natural extension of that mindset, just expressed through a different medium.
It’s less about telling a story and more about paying close attention—staying with a subject long enough to really see it. Most of what I paint comes from things I’ve come across in everyday life, photographed, and then worked through slowly in the studio.
I live and work in Colorado, where a lot of this begins—simply paying attention to what’s around me and noticing what might otherwise be passed by.
Selected works have been shown in regional and national juried exhibitions.