Carol Cavalaris

Carol Cavalaris lives in the middle of a forest in the high country of Colorado. It is the wild beauty of her surroundings that inspires her digital paintings of wildlife and nature. She grew up in Southern California and has been creating since childhood, always drawing, painting or making something.

She has enjoyed many creative adventures, including sculpting, stained glass art, being a display artist, an interior designer, a graphic artist, a copywriter, and a creative director. She owned an ad agency with husband, LJ, Heart, for years, doing everything from producing books to print ads to tv commercials. She also loves writing fiction and completed two novels. LJ was a musician and together they wrote hundreds of original songs and produced them in their digital recording studio. They lived a passionate and creative life, full of love.

The last few years she and her husband enjoyed learning how to make digital art on the computer and it opened up a whole new world to them. They added digital photography to their creative adventures when they moved from California to Colorado in the winter of 04. They both adore nature and animals and spent a wondrous year and a half in their dream home in the mountains experiencing the seasons and all the beauty. Sadly, LJ died very suddenly of a heart failure in the spring of 06.

It was devastating to lose her soul mate, but Carol decided to stay in the mountain home they loved. And she once again turned to art to express her feelings through images. Painting wildlife and nature have been very healing, and color and detail are her passions. She has a fine art background in oil painting, however she really enjoys the freedom of the digital medium as it stimulates her imagination and offers so many exciting possibilities. She explores art programs, like Photoshop, still using brushes to paint, but now the computer screen is her canvas. Reality and fantasy blend together as she combines photo sources and painting techniques to create her unique mixed medium images that she calls ‘living art’.

Her ‘Language of Flowers’ series was inspired by her fascination with the colors and textures of flowers, and the way they always speak to her heart. Her ‘Spirit Of The Wild’ series was inspired by her love for animals. Many of the creatures in this series are or were at one time among the endangered species. She believes each has something precious and special to give to all of us and each painting is a tribute to these amazing creatures, where she strives to capture their essence. Many of the animals she paints have a spiritual quality with the power to heal hearts and spirits, if one is open to their message.

Carol sees the uniqueness in every living being as a momentary gift to be treasured. And so it is this need to capture the life force, to enhance and celebrate it, and even give it life long after it has faded, that gives meaning to her work. Creating, learning, and growing artistically have kept the joy alive and it is her passion to bring healing joy to others.

Carol currently exhibits her work in several Colorado galleries, including the Grace Gallery in the famous Santa Fe Avenue Art District in Denver. She is a freelance artist for The Mountain, and creates custom art, specializing wildlife, floral, and pet paintings. Her on-line galleries can be viewed on her website at: http://www.romanceworks.com