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We received this sad notice recently from Laurie Prindle (aka CWRW):

"My dear and wonderful friend, and amazing, talented and passionate artist Carol Cavalaris (better known as Romanceworks in the 3d and digital art communities) passed away last Friday (July 31). I don't have the words to say how much she will be missed by me and all her dear friends, and loyal fans. I can only console myself with knowing that she is now with her beloved LJ again.

This beautiful piece is one of the last she did: Equality 1 - Panther Lion Tiger by romanceworks Mixed Medium Animals

As always it shows her caring and beautiful spirit that she shared so willingly with the world.

Brief Biography of Carol Cavalaris

The following was taken from Carol's Facebook page:

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’.

Carol also has a lovely website filled with even more of her creations.

We'd like to add that Carol joined Renderosity in 2003 and had 1250 followers. She had an extensive gallery. Carol was voted Artist of the Month for June 2014. You can read our interview with her here. She loved animals and had a great talent for depicting their majesty and beauty.

We send our condolences to her family and friends. Carol was the epitome of a loving and talented Renderosity member.

She will greatly missed.