Sandra DeSano Pezzullo
As a native Rhode Islander, I was born into the captivating complexity that is New England. Our seasons, with their pendulum of ever-changing colors, temperatures, and geography provided the rhythm for a childhood spent out of doors. I paint landscapes not because that is where I find beauty, although I do, but because in nature all of our senses become inseparably entwined. In its essence nature is spontaneous even in its stillest calm, there is movement. Each trail, ridge, or path that I walk reveals to me a different part of myself as I respond to the wafting air, the play of light and shadow and the textures that I encounter. This is how each of my paintings become an invitational journey.
I am intentional with the angles that I choose. I love the way diagonal lines ask the eye to travel from one point to another. I like strong foregrounds because they function as the ‘thesis statement’ of my paintings. I pay close attention to composition and think about the relationship of each shape and element.
I choose to work with the medium of oil paint because it both intensifies and satisfies my passion for the antiquity value it expresses. I mix colors that are able to evoke the biting cold of winter’s salty air or the muted tones that capture the smell of late summer. My paint can make visible the dryness of parched and thirsty soil, the delicate lacey edge of snow as it meets the sea or the saturation of color that emerges from a marsh soaked in rain. When fully awakened to the depth of this space, I am able to paint the sound of distant thunder.
For me painting is deeply spiritual; it is an intimate conversation between what my eyes see, how my colors hug the canvas and my Creator. This world of creation is a gift from Him, my paintings are my expression of gratitude.