  Painting w/ Intention: It's not enough to make something beautiful. For me, the HOW & WHY something is made is of imperative value. My new series of paintings explores positive affirmations to navigate our choices ON & OFF the canvas.
Spotlight Interview w/ Resident Artist & Acclaimed Abstract Painter Samantha daSilva @Workshop SLC2/21/2022
  Everything we create is an extension of ourselves. My new series of paintings explores positive affirmations as navigational tools for the choices made on & off the surface of the canvas. We can't help it. We paint who we are. The canvas is our mirror. When the work is finished & the painting is interpreted by the viewer, it is my hope that these intentions serve as guide posts to becoming greater expressions of ourselves.
 Sold Out! DIY Acrylic Mediums & Texture
Lifelong Learning The University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT  Life is short. Death is quick. Yesterday morning I received the devastating news that my friend & colleague died by suicide. My heart sank. My body shook from head to toe. My legs gave way and I collapsed to the ground in shock & disbelief.
 There are some places, people & activities that make me feel A L I V E . My recent excursion to Yelapa provided me with plenty of opportunities to experience being uncomfortable (compostable toilets, scorpions, motion sickness, etc.) yet I was extremely happy. A potent reminder to me that being comfortable does not always equate to happiness & that the opposite is also true: Being uncomfortable does not have to equate to being unhappy. It is a choice. When we push ourselves beyond our preconceptions of what we think we can & cannot do, we gain an inner strength & stability that supersedes anything tangible.
My most recent series of paintings explores positive affirmations as navigational tools to decision making on & off the canvas.  In order to really understand a place, you have to experience it. In preparation for 4 large-scale commission paintings I made for a corporate client, I visited Bryce Canyon National Park for the first time. Utah colors are reds, yellows & ochres juxtaposed against a brilliant blue sky. The landscape is other-wordly, reaching, flattened, undulating, expansive and harsh. The texture is rough, smooth, slippery and deceiving. The feeling is that one is very small and the landscape is truly sacred.
 4 Large-Scale Commission Paintings
Sorenson Capital Lehi, Utah Inspired by bold Utah colors, local landscape & texture |
