About the Artist

Sheila Foley likes to think of herself as a renaissance woman. The fact that she's hundreds of years too late for the Renaissance doesn't seem to faze her. Unfortunately, the fact that she doesn't have too many wealthy patrons (can one ever have too many?) does seem to faze her.

Sheila likes to work in acrylic or watercolor. Or pastel. Sometimes pen & ink. Then again, trompe l'oeil furniture painting is fun and so are murals. Sheila welcomes illustration assignments too. She's simply a full-service artist. Portraits, house portraits, pet portraits, still lifes, land or seascapes, book covers or interior art, the list goes on...

And that's not all. By day, Sheila teaches art at Austin Preparatory School in Reading, Ma. In the evening, she runs a watercolor class for adults. She is also an instructor of professional development courses (see the Classes & Workshops page) for teachers. And to top it all off, Sheila portrays Whistler's Mother in living history programs, James Whistler being her favorite artist.

In her spare time (huh!) Sheila plays fiddle/violin. She runs a weekly jam session at her art studio for like-minded folkies.
"Taking violin lessons is the best thing I've ever done for myself," she says.