ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES - SANDY WADLINGTON

Those who appreciate the softly-painted and widely acclaimed New England landscapes of Sandy Wadlington find it easy to understand both her love for art and for the New England countryside that she paints. Her love of art began with finding tons of paper and boxes of pencils, crayons and paints under the Christmas tree each year as a child and is, fortunately, one she has never outgrown.

As to her focus, Wadlington says, In my art, I try to emphasize those qualities which appeal to me upon initial impact: a snow-covered mountain behind a clump of trees, the contrasts of the seasons, a crisp November sky.

And while Wadlington says there is no message in her art, that she simply tries to communicate the quintessential beauty that inspired it in the first place, her work certainly conveys a love for the New England countryside. Confirming this, Wadlington says that the simple yet sublime images of New England are indeed important to her. In her eyes nature in the form of mountains, water, sky, sunsets, light and trees wshould be revered in an almost religious sense.

Her work has been exhibited in individual and group shows throughout the country, including the Marvin Seline Gallery, Houston, Texas; the San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas; and the Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas. She was represented in six shows in Japan in 1993, and her work is included in many corporate collections.

Wadlington was born and educated in Boston, but it was not until she married a Texan and moved willingly to Texas that she began to think clearly about the importance of the New England landscape in her art. Influenced, too, by her great-great-great grandfather, Alvin Fisher, one of the Hudson River painters, she began to act on her desire to continue with the landscape tradition.

Says the artist: Inspirations come from the New England coastline and the mountains of New Hampshire, all of which are near where I live. I try to focus on color as well as place - the strong sunlit coastal buildings in summer, the oranges of autumn against the distant blue, the subtle, colors of winter and spring. Mountains in winter, though often snow-covered, can have a warm, brilliant quality which I find appealing.

Wadlington, who works out of her studio in rural New Hampshire, says that being from New England, with its beauty and variety, makes it easy for her to work there. But having lived in the Southwest and on the West Coast and having traveled extensively, she says that it is not difficult to find the inspiration to paint no matter where she finds herself.