In Sedona, Turquoise Tortoise Gallery opens Sharon Brening: Childhood Discoveries as the artist unveils her newest paintings of American Indian children. The opening is at the 1st Friday Gallery Tour on June 2, from 5 to 8 p.m. Brening will give an artist talk at 6:30 p.m.

A traditional realist painter, Brening uses old master painting techniques of painting and glazing layer after layer to add richness, depth and vibrancy to her subjects.

She was the first woman to win the gold medal award for oil painting at the Annual Western Artists of America Show and Sale in Texas.

Brening has formed lasting friendships with many of the families whose children she paints. In “Wonderment,” Brening captures four siblings all on one canvas for the first time.

“I have been painting Skye Blue, Thunder, Wylde and Breezy Summer since small children,” she said. The regalia the children wear in the painting were handmade by their grandparents.

Devoted to her work, Brening paints in her studio each weekday from the wealth of photographs she takes documenting each detail of dress and expression of character on her models.

She said, “I want the viewer to feel like my subject could walk right out of my canvas.”

Brening has received two Awards of Excellence from the American Plain’s Artist show at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. Her paintings hang in the permanent collections of The Pearce Western Art Museum in Corsicana, Texas and the Scottsdale Museum of the West.

Turquoise Tortoise Gallery is located at Hozho, 431 SR 179. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Through June, the gallery hosts extended hours until 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturday.

Visit TurquoiseTortoiseGallery.com or call 282-2262 for information.