Sharon Hodgson chose a coal train for the mural on Maitland St. to represent how the train connected Nova Scotia to the rest of Canada.	Sharon sells most of the live paintings she creates but keeps some pieces for her home, displayed here in her living room. All PHOTOS: GEOFF TOBIN

Sharon Hodgson: An Artist In Motion

Sharon Hodgson has been painting for thirty years. She was one year old when she started, and she says she hopes she’ll be doing it until the day she dies.

White space is scarce on the walls of her living room, where colourful paintings depict everything from boats and bridges, to George W. Bush.

Her work can also be seen with the collection of public outdoor murals at Maitland St. in Dartmouth, and at venues throughout Halifax.

The Fauvis palette she uses in her pieces depict the people and animals she paints with vibrant detail.

The outlines of her subjects trail and blur to create a sense of movement in her work.

“I like to gestalt …shapes so that your brain fills in the gaps,” Hodgson says. (continued below)

Hodgson says she paints a lot of DJs, and enjoys the movement that dance music inspires.	Hodgson painted this intentionally unflattering portrait while watching George W. Bush on television.	This painting, called The Man Who Drank His Friends, was inspired by an aquaintance of Hodgson’s whose “whole life was the bar scene”. All PHOTOS: GEOFF TOBIN

Hodgson uses this passion for portraying motion at spoken-word poetry readings, and concerts, where she paints live, as the event unfolds around her.

“I think everything is about motion, everything is movement, cause, and effect. Everybody goes from one state to another, we aren’t just finished final, photo-shopped images. We are ongoing processes.”

She uses acrylic paints so they dry fast, and offers her paintings up for sale when the events end.

Hodgson has yet to leave a show without selling her work.

Her work is on display at the Eating Disorders Action Group centre on Quinpool Rd., and at the Shake It Dance Cafe on Cornwallis St.

You can see Hodgson paint live at the Dance Cafe on April 25^th, or check out her work at FRED Salon on Agricola St. in May, where she’ll be part of a month-long gallery for artists involved in the Halifax Art Map.

When she’s not painting, Hodgson also designs websites with her design company, Oddesign Creative Services. With Oddesign, she’s created sites for groups like We Bite Back, an online forum for people with eating disorders that has garnered international attention.