Sandra Obrien

The best gift I ever got as a child was a small metal watercolor paint box, when I was 5-years old! As a business student at UNH, I painted large scale murals for the hospitality department’s gourmet dinners. Later, after a career in advertising and marketing, I created welcoming displays for my kids’ grammar school and a large scale train and mountain mural annual fundraiser, The Polar Express. Wanted to switch gears and focus on fine art, and I started my portrait journey after taking several workshops in Kittery, ME, Chatham and  Newburyport MA and Portsmouth NH. 
During this summer, I draw or paint portraits and figures in-person, two to three times a week. Painting with other artists is key! Then I take that knowledge to my studio to work from live zoom sessions or photos. I’m trying to get faster and not get to hung up on details, being expressive and staying loose. Challenging my skills this summer with landscapes, figures in the landscape and florals. 
Right now I am studying landscapes with Tara Will, focusing on value, color and mark making. I am a lifelong learner, and learned so much in an online learning program, Cultivate, where I also served as a mentor to artists in the Painterly Portrait course. This fall I’ll be taking portrait workshops in-person, with Corey Pitkin and Jeanne Tangney. 
Adore the NODG sessions and feel free to paint how I want to paint now. 

NH

United States