My name is Sandra Lanz Sánchez-Penichet and I am a contemporary painter born in 1987 in Cuba, who immigrated to the United States at the age of eleven and now lives and works in Portland, Oregon. I am known for my energetic portraits and figurative oil paintings. My work lovingly depicts the unique characteristics of my sitters, and is increasingly concerned with depicting natural environments with the same level of admiration and care.
I approach traditional oil painting with an illustrative sensitivity that is rooted in a love of drawing. My process involves both sketch-like mark-making and glazing techniques that contrast one another, building depth and visual complexity. The resulting images are simultaneously energetic and serene. I seek to create a painted object that can be treasured for its subject matter as much as for its lustrous qualities and beauty.
In a time where digital images are easily generated and consumed in mass, I dedicate myself to perfecting a craft that makes a viewer have to stop, share space with an image, and look deeply. The shift of my attention to include more and more natural environments is also based on a desire to remind people of how essential our connection to nature is. My work gives subtle nods to the Arts and Crafts movement, which used motifs from nature to critique the impact of industrialization on human values.