Ian Sheldon was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1971. However, Sheldon spent most of his childhood in Singapore, South Africa, and England. After finishing high school in England, he moved to France before coming back to England in 1990 to study Natural Science at Cambridge University. While at Cambridge, Sheldon painted watercolours of the city's architecture.
After graduating from Cambridge University in 1995, Sheldon moved back to Canada where he began his Masters of Science at the University of Alberta (U of A) in Edmonton, Alberta. During this time, to help finance his degree, he sold his artwork in England. He also spent time in Thailand doing research for his degree and immersed himself in temple life and meditation for a short period.
After graduating from the U of A, Sheldon found work as a visual artist including work as an illustrator. This led to his illustrations being featured in dozens of books. Once Sheldon was settled in the Western Canada, he began to create artworks inspired by the wilderness. He also began to work in oils, sometimes on large canvases. This led to various art shows in New York, San Francisco, England, and across Canada. In 2004, Sheldon was listed in the Canadian Who's Who, as a Canadian who was contributing to the country and its culture.
In 2010, Sheldon's work was featured in the publication, Creative Glass, a book which featured international artists glass work. Sheldon started work with the medium of glass by kiln-forming and glazing the glass and creating kinetic landscapes. His glass work can be found across Canada including an installation at The Weather Network's head office and The Bow building in Calgary, Alberta.
Wanting to explore more mediums, Sheldon most recently began printing his abstract photography onto aluminum to create large ocean scenes for his collection Atlantic Meditations.
Sheldon garnered a large amount of media coverage in the form of television and print articles for this work as an artist. Sheldon still lives in Alberta, more than 20 years after returning to Canada, where he continues to paint as a form of meditative colour therapy.