About Us
Clive & Sharon
Why "Sparksfly Design"? The whole idea of sparks flying conjures images of energetic creativity with bright ideas literally flying through the air! And it does seem to be true that the sparks have always been flying in our household, as new ideas for creative projects seem to spring forth daily. From extreme pumpkin carving & watermelon carving, to graphic design, fine arts, furniture design, crafts and all kinds of sculpture - SparksflyDesign.com is a home for our wide variety of our creative projects, and under "fine art" some of our families art as well. You can also find us on Facebook now at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010263586313Clive Cooper - Extreme Pumpking Carving - (and more!):
Throughout my life, I have always enjoyed exploring art in its various forms. Although I’ve had no formal training, this hasn’t stopped me from trying various mediums, such as watercolours, pen & ink, lino boards, digital art, furniture design, cartooning and, lately, pumpkin and watermelon carving.
In 1996 my employer ran a charity pumpkin carving contest and I decided to enter and present an unusual, novelty pumpkin. My pumpkin won the contest and received a lot of positive attention . . . and it was then that the “spark was lit”. Encouraged by this, I have continued to submit a pumpkin at work each and every Halloween since. I'm happy to report that over $3,000 has been donated to charities as a result of my auctioned pumpkins (as of 2012). Hopefully, I can increase that this year and in the years to come.
My pumpkins and watermelon carvings have been featured in newspapers world-wide, and on Global BC TV, City TV Breakfast Television and Jiggy TV, to name a few. To me that's simply amazing! Hope you enjoy our site.
Sharon Smith (Cooper):
Being art
istically inclined, in my case, seems to be genetic. With a father who was a bit of an electronics genius and who played piano in a swing band (a boogie player) and a mother who is a prolific painter, being creative was for me, inescapable. And like my husband Clive, adventures in art are just daily fare. I started off with an interest in fashion design and illustration but, unfortunately, was less interested in the sewing part! Other than the few dog costumes you’ll come across on the site, I’ll take designing over sewing any day! I also dabble in conte crayon, watercolour, pen and ink, etc. but on the whole seem to lean towards a more commercial, graphic art style. I’ve been employed as a graphic designer for a large company for many years, working with Quark, Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator programs and as well, am a bit of a PowerPoint and MS Word guru, if I do say so myself. I often take on after hour assignments and can provide the following modern-style graphics, to suit a variety of different tastes:
Cooper The Dog:
Cooper passed away on July 9th, 2014, age 17 plus. We miss him terribly and couldn't bear to remove this from our website. As any of you know, who have owned and loved animals, it's a heart-breaker. Miss you Coopie! Best-dressed dog in town and top-model for Sparksfly Design. To view more Cooper photos, click here.
