Statement
I am a self-taught artist. My paintings are deeply influenced by my native Trinidad and Tobago. The light of the Caribbean generates brilliant hues for the seas, skies, flowers, fruit and skin tones. These colors in turn are expressed in my culture.
My profession, as an international make-up artist in the fashion industry for over 30 years, developed in me a keenness of eye for the multiple hues of skin and the practice of observing facial features from many angles. I bring this experience into every portrait I create. My intent is to capture the emotions of the being I am painting. One could say, I am having a conversation with the being’s soul through color and perspective.
Bio
Sandra was born in Venezuela, and grew up in Trinidad having moved there with her family when she was five. She spent her teenage years in Aberwystwyth at a girls’ boarding school, before starting an extensive career in fashion that spanned over 30 years. Her career encompassed modeling for Vogue (photographed by the late Sir Norman Parkinson), Yves St Laurent, Zandra Rhodes and Meiling to becoming a highly skilled hair and make-up artist hired by Andy Warhol’s The Factory and Interview Magazine’s top celebrities and super-models.
Sandra has always been fascinated by the character behind the mask, which is revealed in her startling array of portraits. Self-taught, but guided by some considerable mentors: Bosco Holder (Trinidad), Patrick Betaudier (Paris), Andy Warhol (The Factory) and more recently Rafael Calzada (Mexico), Sandra’s style could be described as a blend of emotion and soul expressionism. Indeed the memories of the light and colors of Trinidad and Tobago, her mother’s birth place, can be seen as THE influence in her play with color.