MINERAL
CHOOSING SUBJECT MATTER
ART
Because it’s risky to ship and handle museum-quality
minerals, most of my work has been done using
photographic reference material. When I decide what
mineral I want to paint (or when someone asks me to
paint, for example a Rowley wulfenite), I seek out the
photographs that best express the qualities of the mineral
requested. Clients wishing to commission paintings of
specimens from their own collections are likewise invited
to provide photographs in lieu of the mineral itself.
BY SOPHIA KELLY SHULTZ
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† DIOPTASE ¢
In order to express its color and luminosity, this splendid
dioptase crystal was rendered almost exclusively in
Derwent Inktense Pencil*; the calcite upon which it sits is
rendered in gouache.
This image was reproduced from a photograph
generously provided by Rob Lavinsky of Arkenstone.
q
† THUNDER EGGS ¢
I had the pleasure of being able to paint several
world-class thunder eggs from the collection of
William Anderson “in person”. This one, from
Baker Ranch in New Mexico, was rendered in
gouache on Ampersand Claybord**; details were
then scratched out with scratchboard tools.
† ORDERING INFORMATION ¢
Clients are welcome to contact me via telephone or
email, and are invited to visit my website to view my
other work:
Sophia Kelly Shultz
136 West Bacon Street/Pottsville PA 17901
570-691-6327
HTTP://BADGERSOPH.DEVIANTART.COM
[email protected]
*Derwent is a registered trademark
**Ampersand is a registered trademark
† WULFENITE ¢
This wulfenite from Rowley, Arizona was
rendered first in Derwent Inktense Pencil* to
produce the specimen’s intense color and
transparency. Further color, including the
background and white highlights were rendered
in gouache.
This image was reproduced from a photograph
generously provided by Dan Weinrich.
Explore the Beauty of Rocks and Minerals
Through the Eyes of Sophia Kelly Shultz
Rich with intense color and emotional texture, my work
reaches far beyond mere illustration and portraiture,
exploring the realm of my subjects’ very natures. My
paintings embody the whole of my personal philosophy,
from my ability to see the essence of minerals to my
deep connection with the gods themselves.
About the Artist
A graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania native
Sophia Kelly Shultz has been working as
a professional artist for 27 years, creating
at first science fiction and fantasy themed
portraits, illustrating geological and
archaeological publications, doing pen and
ink illustrations for magazines, the odd
mural, and most recently, larger scale
mythological paintings in gouache and
other water media.
Although she has collected rocks and
minerals since she was a child, her line of
mineral paintings is relatively new and
ever-expanding.
She currently resides in Pottsville,
Pennsylvania--coincidentally on a
sedimentary sequence she mapped while a
student, with her husband David and
daughter Emily. In her copious spare
time she creates award-winning
needlework and costumes.
Drawing and painting have been part of my
life for as long as I can remember. My first
recorded self-portrait was at age four (see
above); sometime soon after that my uncle
Richard gave me a piece of rose quartz--the
first mineral in my collection.
For forty-five years these passions--art and
rockhounding--co-existed without ever really
intersecting, except for a short time at the
University of Pennsylvania where I had the
pleasure of doing illustrations for several
professors in the Geology department (I took
my minor in Geology)--but those were dry
black and white images of fossils, not flashy
paintings of minerals. I experienced another
near-miss when I designed my award-winning
beaded and machine embroidered Geology
Jacket, based on the psychedelic 1960s
geologic map of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, I developed my eye for color,
working primarily in colored pencil and pastel.
It was only when I started painting in water
media that I began to realize that I could
finally do justice to the remarkable minerals I
had seen in books and museums.
† CUPROSKLODOWSKITE,
Lorem
ipsum
SKLODOWSKITE
, KASOLITE ¢
dolor sit amet
This painting is reproduced from a beautiful
microphotograph by Saul Krotki. I was
enchanted by the elegant composition that he had
achieved in miniature, and the specimen’s brilliant
colors proved too tantalizing to pass over. The
painting was first rendered in Derwent Inktense
Pencils* and then over painted in gouache. I’ve
been told by several people that they think of it
not as “Cupro” (my pet name) but as
“Kryptonite.”