Featured Artists: Ginger Anne Sandell & Tina Clothier
Featured Cover Artist: Ginger Anne Sandell
A constant companion in Ginger Anne Sandell’s life is the creative force that drives her to the easel and compels her to lay paint on canvas. Her mother, an artist herself, encouraged her in the arts. She allowed Ginger and her sister to play outdoors year-round and so she became immersed in the beauty of nature, which forged her love of the natural world.
Raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Ginger remembers the scents, sounds, beauty, and magic of each season. The forest near her home was filled with a canopy of trees, luminous flowers, and sparkling incandescent lightening bugs. Fall was an explosion of vibrant colors and falling leaves. Winter was a wonderland of snow and ice, then spring would burst forth filled with new life and the scent of fragrant, kaleidoscope-colored flowers and budding leaves on the trees.
The family moved to San Pedro, on the west coast of California, when Ginger was 10. There, she grew to love the grasslands of the rolling hills and the wonder of tidal pools. “The freedom that I felt as a child is recreated when I am painting. I love pristine places in the natural world, and I hope to inspire viewers to cherish the exquisite splendor of the earth,” Ginger says.
In 1974, she traveled to Hawai‘i on vacation. She fell in love with the ocean and the beauty of the islands, sold all her possessions and moved to Hawai‘i Island. Gingerʻs love of nature inspired her to begin painting in 1979. As a single mother of four sons, however, she was forced to postpone her art career. Ginger earned a M.A. in business administration, obtained a Certified Public Accountant credential, and started her own CPA firm in 2004.
Then, with the same determination she used to raise her boys, Ginger refocused her skills toward her true passion—painting. At the Academy of Art University, in San Francisco, she earned her M.A. in Fine Arts in December 2019, and retired from her CPA firm in 2020.
“I use both intuition and my artistic experience to create dynamic paintings and paint both en plein air and in the studio,” Ginger says. “I use many layers of paint in order to create depth and interest. For mark making [the different lines, dots, marks, patterns, and textures] I use various tools such as brushes, palette knives, rags, and sponges. I like the contrast between warm and cool colors and often mix the cools into the warms and the warms into the cooler pigments.” Ginger says her style is “painterly realism” using the alla prima method of painting, where paint is applied wet on wet without letting earlier layers dry. She has exhibited her work internationally and domestically and has collectors from all over the world.
“Each painting is as if I am traveling somewhere where things are hidden and unknown. The art becomes a world of its own. The painting is dictated by intuition, surprise, discipline, perseverance, and experimentation. My goal as an artist is to create art that will resonate emotionally with others.”
For more information:
gingersandellfineart.com, gingerannesandell.com
Table of Contents Photographer: Tina Clothier
Tina Clothier has lived in the state of Hawai‘i for more than 50 years. In 1979 she moved from O‘ahu to Hawai‘i Island and settled in Kailua-Kona. She founded Jack’s Diving Locker in 1981 and ran the retail operations through 1991. During her time at Jack’s, she enjoyed creating underwater videos for her dive customers.
After leaving Jack’s, Tina enjoyed a decade and a half long career with the American Cancer Society. During that time, she traveled to Bhutan, armed with her point and shoot camera and tried to capture that life changing experience through photos. From that moment on, she was hooked! Her interest accelerated after discovering the vast possibilities of images within the digital world, and especially what can be composed in the nighttime landscapes.
In late 2010, Tina retired from the American Cancer Society, and became the executive director of PATH (formerly Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawai‘i, now People for Active Transportation Hawai‘i). During her free time, she explored her love of astrophotography, astronomy, weather, and the magic of long exposure.
Tina retired from PATH in late 2020 and is now pursuing photography full-time. She is grateful to live on Hawai‘i Island and cherishes the dark sky that offers some of the best star gazing in the world.
For more information:
Instagram: @hawaiiannightskies, 808.561.9212
