Sally Strand’s bright, energetic pastels and lively oil paintings treat her subjects not so much as objects as vehicles for the play light as expressed through texture.

In her pastels in particular, textures made up of a variety of colors reveal patterns of value contrast as light splashes across her still life arrangements and quiet room interiors.

Invoking one of the best qualities of pastel, its rich immediate expression of pigment with a minimum of binding material, she gives even her muted shadow colors a vibrancy that makes the whole work feel alive.

Strand studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design in New York.

In the portfolio on her website you’ll find a mixture of her subjects. Be aware the there are several pages of the gallery, accessed from an easy to miss link at the bottom of the thumbnails. You’ll also find more pieces in the Archive section.

You can also find articles about her work, with illustrations, in her website’s Press section, including articles from the Pastel Journal and SouthWest Art.

You cans find her work represented at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Arts.