About

Sandy O’Brien started her career in the business and advertising world, but never gave up her love of putting paint on canvas.

She paints using soft pastels on sanded surfaces and her passion is painting loosely, with expressive color and marks. Her focus right now is on portrait and figure work; she continues to be ntrigued with faces. Learning how to measure, observe and render features is an ongoing process, but it’s getting easier! She loves to observe how light and shadow shapes the form, and looks for reflected color in the flesh and hair from the background or clothing. She avoids blending pastel on the surface, letting her marks show movement and form. If she doesn’t like a mark she makes, she puts a better one next to it, something she learned from a Tony Allain demo.

Sandy loves trying new things and has been studying with teaching artist Tara Will in both in person and online workshops. Tara has made a huge, positive impact on Sandy’s work! Sandy is developing further by exploring landscapes, buildings, nature and figures in the landscape.

The most exciting thing happening this summer of 2024 is the 15 minute portrait. She is working in a group called “Portrait Carousel,” hosted by Yuji Sakuma of Taipei, Taiwan. This has unleashed her zest for the human face again! She and other artists paint each other, then share and view each other’s work during the session. Being exposed to new artists work is reinvigorating her desire to make a looser portrait, steering away from perfectionism. She is studying abstraction and plans to never paint a super tight, photorealistic portait ever again!

Another influence on Sandy is Lizet Dingemans, from Raw Umber Studio in the UK.. Lizet teaches weekly one hour classes on Sundays. Lizet is an excellent teacher and her methods of measuring and proportion are outstanding. Sandy has worked on honing those skills as she draws models along with Lizet and other participants.

Like many other artists, Sandy found her focus during Covid! She took advantage of two major opportunities. The first was an intensive 7-week portrait workshop with artist and instructor Alain J Picard in 2021. Later, she was asked to be a Community Mentor for Alain’s 2022 Painterly Portrait Course. What a delight to help other painters, by providing feedback and critique to students. And much to her surprise, Sandy found her own work improving, after looking at so many other artist’s work.

The other blessing for Sandy during the time of Covid was weekly portrait and figure practice with two groups. These were both Zoom based: Figure and Portrait Painting with Schulenburg Studio as well as with the New Orleans Drawing Group, hosted by Sandra Burshell. Sandy paints from the live feed in Zoom, looking for nuance as the model shifts or moves. Painting with other artists and sharing work in group shows and on Facebook has been integral to Sandy’s growth as an artist. She has also painted live with Paul Schulenburg and group in his studio in Eastham, MA,, at the Mary Heaton Vorse House in Provincetown and at the Eastham Library. If her schedule isn’t too packed, she paints with Taylor Fox and his group at his studio in Harwich. In the summer, Sandy draws and paints at twice weekly sessions at The Provincetown Art Association and Museum. During the rest of the year, she enjoys drawing with other artists on the seacoast at the Kittery Dance Hall, Art on the Hill and the Newburyport Art Association.

Community and camaraderie is essential to Sandy’s development and she has found it with many groups. She loves listening to other artists, and enjoys hearing about their passions and process. She visits artists in their studios or at galleries on the Cape to see how they work.

Sandy is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America and gained that level at her first application! She recently won an Honorable Mention in Dakota Pastels Emerging artist category for her portrait, “Serene.” At the Pastel Society of NH show, she received third place for her painting of “Freddy” and sold that painting 15 minutes after the awards ceremony.! Over the winter she won two Honorable Mention awards, one from the Pastel Society of Maine and the other by the Pastel Painter Society of Cape Cod. She was thrilled to be selected as the Grand Prize, First Place Winner in the UArt 2023 Online Pastel Competition, for her painting “Betyel.” Three of Sandy’s portraits were selected for the “Face Time” show at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, July 2023. She has shown her work at Cusp Gallery in Provincetown, at the “For Pastels Only” show at Cape Cod Cultural Center in South Yarmouth, members show at The Creative Arts Center in Chatham, Schulenburg Group Show at the Eastham Library, and members show at the Newburyport Art Association, “It’s Pastel” member show at The Portsmouth Discovery Center, and at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum annual members 12x12 auction.

Why I use Pastels:

Pastels are pure pigment. We can mix and layer them to create other colors. My greatest joy is having a yummy palette of colors available at my fingertips to create paintings. Over the years, I explored oil painting, learning the process of mixing paint and picking up a brush and/or a palette knife to apply it. However, after a few lessons in pastel, found pastels ignited my artistic spirit. Pastel just feels good in my hands, my fingers are close to the surface, and I’m free to make light or stronger strokes in a painterly style, standing at the easel and working from my shoulder.

After selecting a limited palette of pastels to work with, I’ll choose a “canvas” for my work from a variety of sanded surfaces. The surfaces include LaCarte Pastel Card, Uart, Clairfontaine PastelMat, Art Spectrum Colourfix, Pastelbord and Luxe Archival. These surfaces offer a gritty surface, providing a base for soft pastel to stick to.

Pastels help me show my feeling or connection with a subject. They make me want to create something mysterious or colorful or exciting and I feel bold while using them. For me, they are perfect for creating portraits. I love studying the planes of the human face and pastels help me sculpt the form.

Soft pastels manufacturers create these “little sticks of joy,” as pastel Artist Tony Allain, likes to call them. There are endless varieties of colors and tones. Terry Ludwig and Unison Pastels are my favorites for portrait making. Have just discovered Henri Roche Pastels, thanks to Tara Will. And an old favorite, NuPastel, a hard pastel, is great for refining features or using for a first layer. I’m always learning and trying new brands like Girault, Schmincke, Jack Richeson, Diane Townsend and others.

Pastels can also be used with a liquid, like water or alcohol and applied to a surface with a brush to create an underpainting, before marks are made on the surface. It’s similar to using watercolors and I’m happy with a brush in my hand at this stage. Most sanded surfaces allow this, except for LaCarte. Most of my paintings begin with a sketch in soft vine charcoal or wax pencil on a toned surface. I rarely start with a white “canvas.”

Artist leaders in the field say there has been renewed interest in the art world about Pastels as a medium. That’s why I like working in them, to me they seem exciting and fresh. I’m energized and excited when I see other artist’s work created with Pastel.

To learn more about pastels, visit Connecticut Pastel Society here.