Sandi has the following to say about being an artist:
I have been painting for about as long as I can remember. When I was a tot in church; we didn’t have Children’s Church way back then, but the kids sat with the adults in Big Church, I drew on a notebook Daddy had in his shirt pocket and was as quiet as a dormouse. It seems like my sister and I were always drawing or painting or making things. But maybe I just remember what I loved. My big sis gave me my first art lesson when I was 7. I was painting a tree and she told me how to make brown for the trunk.
Painting has always seemed a magical thing to me. I have never really wanted to do anything else. I love the smell of oil paint, the feel of a pencil in my hand, the sense of being perfectly balanced and centered. I believe art should connect with people, whether to make someone smile, bring a bit of sunshine, or to show something of what it is to be human, the struggle, the sorrow, the love. I believe art can nourish the soul and lift the heart, bring us in touch with parts of our inner selves never seen, show us truths not yet considered. It can help us see more clearly, the world around us, and to see ourselves. Having said all of that I frequently choose my subject matter simply because it’s so much fun. I love creating fantasy; because you can do anything you want with it, express anything you want, creating magic and innocence, or even danger, if you’re of a mind. But I also work in realism, because it lets me explore the wonderful texture, color, light, places and events of our world, taking it as it is for all its richness and letting me share places and things that have touched me.
