Featured Artist Manon Sander

Featured artist Manon Sander paints the paradise of her adopted home state of Florida. Visit her website to learn more about this talented artist.

From a very young age on I loved spending my days exploring the places I grew up in: Bavarian villages and in my teenage years the bustling metropolitan Berlin. And I loved drawing and painting. As an adult, I’ve combined those two passions – and it’s always a great day when I discover a scene or subject that seems to be just waiting for me to paint it!

I have drawn in charcoal, painted in acrylics and watercolor, and used acrylics on a large scale when I was painting murals in private homes and stores for over a decade in Chicago. But one day, when I was standing in front of an oil painting by artist Ken Auster, moved by the emotions expressed with thick brushstrokes and rich color, I knew that oil paint had to become my medium.

After studying in a workshop with Ken, I left happy but with the realization that I had so much more to learn and explore. Everything fell into place a short time after, when my family and I moved from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area where I found a vibrant art scene and had a life-changing experience: to learn how to make the painting feel truly alive I had to paint from life.

Under the watch of several distinguished and renowned artists, I studied how to make a painting that combines rich texture and vivid color while capturing the expression of my subject and the impression it left on me. I learned to simplify and paint the big shapes before I go into detail. I learned about my new medium, values, temperature, design and about the importance of deciding what my focal point is. The most important thing I learned was to look at something and to just see, without giving the subject a label.

In August 2010 I entered a new phase in my life when once again we moved (hopefully for the last time for a while) to sunny, buggy and wonderful Florida. The ocean and the beach provide me with a never-ending stream of inspiration: the sunlight that creates lavender shadows on the white clothing of people walking by the water’s edge deep in conversation; surfers and paddle boarders catching an aquamarine wave; boats at rest and on a journey; and sea creatures and birds that call Florida their home.

I aim to share my happiness with you in paintings that reflect the color, light and joy that I see in the world – and hope I can create a connection with you of a special place or moment you want to have in your life. Now, I’m off to grab my brushes, palette knives, oils, canvas, a big umbrella and head out for the sun.