Sandra J Quintas

Billings, MT

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Sandra Quintus is a 3rd generation painter.  Her grandfather was a Minneapolis based salesman who demonstrated Avant-guard paint treatments. Her mother supported the family by restoring antiques, and always had an oil painting she was working on. She taught her daughter the principles of measuring and drawing.  Sandra was the child who was never without her sketchbook and her early efforts won her state and national recognition.

 

A fine art major at the U of  I, upon leaving school, she took a position as Art Director at Mach III, a Mason City design and print company.

 

After starting their family, Sandra stayed home to raise their four children.  Tending a large garden, raising goats, making cheese, sewing custom clothing, and learning classical guitar filled her days with creative work. Keeping her brushes “wet”, she volunteered to create murals for Kingdom Halls and worked on commissions.   Getting out the art supplies and painting with the children was a favorite recreation.  As the children grew, the family frequented local galleries and museums. They traveled to visit the Minneapolis Art Institute, the Met in New York, The National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Hispanic Society in Manhattan to see Joaquin Sorolla's murals. Appreciation for the arts permeated every aspect of life, and she passed that love to her family.

 

When the children were grown, Sandra began to rekindle her full-time art career by getting training.  She studied extensively with Oil Painting Master Daniel E. Greene in New York and sought out workshops with other outstanding artists, like William Scott Jennings, and Paul McCormick. To play catch-up, she would spend evenings and weekends practicing her new-found knowledge, getting friends and family members to sit for her. And she would ride her bike to scenic locations to paint en plein air.

 

In 2001 she started her company, "Artistic Walls by Sandra."  In 2004 she was commissioned to paint 6 fine art murals for the Clear Lake Public Library that took a year and a half to complete. The results won awards from international judges at Fauxcademy in Las Vegas, NV.  To quote one of the judges, Michel Nadai (Best Craftsman of France), it was her "beautiful figurative work" that won her the 1st  Place Mural Trophy.  In 2012 she was awarded the American Painting Contractor Magazine Top Job in Decorative Painting for a 3 month project that involved a 13x20' trompe l'oeil ceiling mural. The work depicted a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired, stained glass "observatory," complete with an eagle flying overhead in a typical Midwest sky.

 

Other artists have described her style as delicate and sensitive without being fussy or precious.  She is adept at handling the subtleties of skin, fabric, and natural materials.  And her paintings of the prairies and wetlands have endeared her to those working hard to preserve these for future generations.

KS.