Update: 1/15/23

Wow! What a great year already! I’ve been working on some new evidence-based florals. I wanted to give them a bit more POP, so I thought of the ocean as it washed ashore as a background. Happy, joyful art!

Update: 12/22/22

Sorry for missing November. I really have been that busy. I finally finished writing my Evidence-based Design/Art book. What a super amount of hard work that took. There’s even a section on neuroscience and art. Whew! It’s now with a great book designer and should be available within a month or two.

If you’re wondering why I have so much art on the website it’s because I’ve been trying NOT TO SELL my paintings. Why? Oddball artist tendencies I suppose, but I wanted them around just in case I needed another photo of them for my new book.

In addition to being a member of the Northeast Michigan Artist Guild (What a great bunch of people!), I joined the Arts Foundation Of Cape Cod this month. I thought it only appropriate since I’ll be staying on the Cape the entire month of April 2023 and friends and relatives are determined to get me back home for many more months each year. I’ve been painting lots of ocean abstracts, so we’ll see. (Ocean Memories, Happy Water Happy Sand, Ocean Amazing Ocean Beautiful, and The Tempest.)

Update: 10/30/22

I have been so busy. I received another big commission. This time it was for a triptych—ancient Greek for 3 panels. Since I love creating BIG art, I had a blast. The buyers requested a super fun style of art I call Bubble Art. Why? It bubbles with happiness.

Update: 8/7/22

Hi Everyone!

I’m a super happy painter, and I work hard at keeping the world’s problems outside my art. I recently created a painting called A Gift Of Hope. I liked it so much I decided to do more like this. Why? The sun represents HOPE. For all kinds of reasons, so many people today need more encouragement and hope. A friend in Michigan has been dealing with multiple breast cancer surgeries. Another friend in Los Angeles lost a son the other day to a shooting. I like to create art with power, and my focus lately has been to design evidence-based paintings beaming with an abundance of happiness and hope.

Update: 7/7/22

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I missed June’s posting. I’ve been making lots of changes. I joined The International Society of Experimental Artists. I love to experiment and test boundaries in art. I think it goes back to getting trained to paint in oil as a child. “You need to make the water this color. You need to put the rocks here. You need to take the waves and slam them against the rocks.” LOL! Today I paint what I want and how I want. LOL!

Update: 5/18/22

My Northern Michigan “working” art studio at 193 West Huron Avenue in Rogers City is now open to the public. I’ll be here all spring, summer, and fall. To catch me in the studio, just give me a call at (989) 474-9085. All ages are always welcome!

My Los Angeles art studio is also in the works. It’s going to take months to set up—and I LOVE GREAT LAKES LIVING—so I’ll let you know when it does finally come about. It’ll be in the Pasadena/Highland Park area.

Update: 4/2/22

Sorry for missing the month of March. I have been sooooooo busy. I’m now in 7 galleries. All of them are so beautiful and amazing. Spring is here in Michigan and the quiet winter months have ended. Business has picked up for me sooner than later. I’ve already had an international commission and I received 2 more commissions just this week. I’ve got new and different art this year—AND IT’S STILL FULL OF HAPPINESS, COMFORT, AND JOY! Can you see the influence living in Japan for 5 years has on my art?

Update: 2/19/22

Here’s my latest video featuring paintings from NOT GRANDPA’S GREAT LAKES ART. (Yes, there’s a story behind this!)

Update:

2/22—WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH ART ON THE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW?

My goal for 2022 is to establish more Great Lakes gallery relationships, so I’ve been painting a lot but holding back on showing or promoting the art. I want to make sure I have enough paintings in stock when the weather warms and galleries around the Great Lakes open back up. Last summer I sold so much art I could hardly keep up.

Also, I’ve really been enjoying working on a new series called: NOT GRANDPA’S GREAT LAKES ART. Here’s a little blurb from the product descriptions.

Anyone tired of those dead moose heads mounted on the wall? What about the stuffed raccoons on the tabletop? How about the same-old-same-old lighthouse, tankers, beach chairs by the lake compositions and scenes? There’s certainly plenty of those around.

I decided to break a few traditional rules and do something fresh and different, and at least in this odd and imaginative style, never done before. People love my smaller Great Lakes Lovelies florals, so I decided to do a series of imaginative Great Lakes inspired art for 21st century living and call them Not Grandpa’s Great Lakes Art. Why not add a little fun and humor to a work of art?

Here’s a little video I created for the series.

Update:

1/22—Happy New Year! Here’s a new video I created for gallery owners. One of my goals this year is to promote my Great Lakes inspired art to Great Lakes galleries. I always enjoy making these videos. ENJOY!

Woodsy Great Lakes living continues to inspire me. Here’s another new video. Enjoy!

Update:

12/21—Here’s how I felt about the sites and scenery during my trip to Los Angeles (mostly Pasadena and the surrounding cities/towns) and the Palm Springs desert areas. A HAPPY ARTIST NEVER STAYS DOWN FOR TOO LONG! I have no control over others—even dearly loved family members—but I do have power over myself and my art. It didn’t take long for the THE POSITIVITY to come flowing back into my art.

Update:

12/21—I recently returned from a trip to Los Angeles. I was inspired but also deeply heartbroken. Since I paint from the soul out, sometimes these feelings just have to come out. Here are two new paintings expressing the sadness I felt.

Update:

11/21—Here’s another video. I just love living along the Great Lakes!

Update:

10/21—Here are two new virtual gallery exhibits. People tell me—all the time—how happy my art makes them feel. Although I’m more of an abstract artist, it’s such an honor to bring happiness and joy into the world. Enjoy the gallery viewings! (If you have trouble navigating, just click on one of the paintings, and then all you need do is click on the NEXT buttons.)

Update:

9/21—I’ve been having A BLAST all month making videos. Check out all the new art!

Update:

8/21—So many people have been asking me to show them the kind of art I refused to share with others for so many years. Can you see the red and black painting in this photo that looks like monstrous forces rising from hell? (a little humor added here) Well, that’s what kept coming out of me for so many years. While thinking about this, I also began thinking about all the styles of art I now do so easily and thought I’d include them in a photograph for you to see. I got trained to paint in oil when I was 7/8 years old, so I don’t paint a particular technique or style—I paint freely from the soul out.

Update:

7/17/21—Hello Everyone! Yes, I’ve been soooooooo busy again. If you click on RECENT TV INTERVIEW in the menu section of this website, you’ll see me featured on TV. For a minimalist who doesn’t try to attract attention, I seem to be getting lots of it these days. It’s not me. It’s the art. At the beautiful Thunder Bay Arts Council Gallery, where I am the July/August featured artist, so many people seem to LOVE the POSITIVE FEELINGS from my floral art. When I paint, I really do try to add in the “happiness/joy” factor. So many of these Lakeside Lovelies are sold before I even get the chance to hang them or put them on this website!

Update:

TBA Gallery names Dorothea Sandra July/August artist

7/2021—Hello everyone! Another month has passed, and I’m still sooooo busy. The Thunder Bay Arts Council in Alpena asked if I would be their July/August featured artist. What an honor! It took weeks to prepare because I had been given about 6’ of window and wall space as the featured artist and another 6’ of wall space since they also asked if I wanted to display as one of their full-time gallery artists.

https://www.thealpenanews.com/news/local-news/2021/07/tba-gallery-names-dorothea-sandra-july-august-artist/

CLICK THE LINK ICON BELOW TO SEE MY ART FEATURED IN THIS NEWS ARTICLE.

Update:

6/2021—Hello everyone! When I say I have been busy, I really have been sooooo busy.

• Zgorski-Micketti, a downtown business in Rogers City, Michigan, called and asked if I would like to fill up one of their empty display rooms with my art. I knew Rogers City’s first-ever ART WALK, where businesses team up with artists, would soon be coming up so I thought, “Why not?” It would be fun for me and fun for the community.

• I guess they loved it so much, they knocked down a wall, which opened the viewing gallery up to another room and main street access.

The Art Walk was a HUGE success! Hundreds of people—locals and visitors—came to the downtown area where there was art, music, crafts, food, and so much more!

Update:

5/2021—Hello everyone! Once again, I have been sooooo busy. (That’s a good thing for an artist:) Today there’s going to be a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at 11:00am at my new viewing location: 204 South Third Street in beautiful Rogers City, Michigan. If you’ve never been to Northern Michigan, you really should come. I live more of a “minimalist” (like to keep things natural) lifestyle and it’s so easy to do this from many areas in this amazing area. Here are some recent photos:

Update:

4/2021—Hello everyone! I have been sooooo busy. I wanted to take a moment and share my new art van with all of you. Look at all the cargo space! I can now deliver my big canvases with ease. I custom create in my style up to 6’x9’. The weather is still cold, so the photos are not lush. Hope you don’t mind:) If you’ve never been to Northern Michigan, you should come. All of these photos were taken within 5 minutes of my studio in Rogers City.

Update:

1/2021—Hello everyone! I get to create in such a magical area surrounded by so many magical people. As many of you know, I like to donate my art, especially to health organizations. I recently donated two paintings to an online auction held by the Mackinac Straits Health Foundation in St. Ignace, Michigan. What a beautiful area! What great people! I got to meet Kim North and Director Mike Grisdale.

Update:

1/16/21-—Hello everyone! I was updating the website today and noticed how “BANG RIGHT ON!” my inner artist was in 2020. Like many artists, I absorb w-a-y too much from the world around me. With practice and patience I’ve learned to channel and/or filter out most of the negativity without living in denial or losing a grip on reality. I like to stay happy and creative but also realistic and centered. Well, with everything going on in 2020, I couldn’t keep out all the YUCK. What resulted was a15-painting 2020 Systems Failure Abstract Art Series. As I viewed what I created and read what I wrote in 2020, I realized my inner artist actually predicted we were heading for a real revolution. Painting 14 in this series was even called TO THE REVOLUTION, months in advance of January 6, 2021. On a positive note, Painting 15 got called OUR REVOLUTIONARY CHOICES. We are not perfect, but we do have tremendous power to make positive revolutionary choices for ourselves, for others and for our beautiful planet.

Update:

12/21/20-—Hello everyone! I finally finished my new FORCES OF GOODNESS Art Series. Many artists internalize their surroundings, and living in a quiet and beautiful place along the shores of Lake Huron inspired much of the “goodness” in this art. I’d like to give a big THANK YOU to lovely ROGERS CITY, MI and its population of people with so much GOODNESS. Many of you are in these lines and beautiful colors! (A little inside artist info…Lake Huron is the body of water often featured in the background of my florals.)

Update:

11/26/20-—Hello everyone! I’ve been thinking a lot about people. When I create abstract art, it comes from my soul. Here are two recent abstract works of art. With everything going on in the world, I’ve been feeling a need for order and togetherness.

Update:

10/17/20-—Hello everyone! I have been sooooo busy! I have been preparing paintings for a “call for artists” for the new wing of a hospital. If you know me, you know I LOVE to create “evidence-based” (based on medical studies) art for medical facilities. There are so many rules and restrictions (not free at all as in abstract art) but I don’t mind because people need this kind of art, especially when they’re in the care of medical professionals. Cheerful and artistic is always my goal!

Update:

8/18/20—The online art gallery is now open. Have a look around at dorotheasandragallery.com.

Update:

7/30/20—Now available—FREE SHIPPING in the USA and DISCOUNTED worldwide shipping.

Update:

7/28/20—I finally finished my themed abstract art SYSTEMS FAILURE Art Collection. It starts with an abstract painting in the top left corner called Systems Failure and finishes with the floral at the bottom right called Our Revolutionary Choices. It begins as an artistic journey when I realize many of our social problems (riots, homelessness, poverty, crime, corruption, false new reporting, government deadlock) might be connected to many of our Systems failing us. I go through one door after another (Paintings 2-9) until my art forms into paintings about Systems failures and Systems flows. The collection’s natural flow was to end with the red/black/yellow abstract in the lower right area called To The Revolution, but I chose to keep going and finish up with a positive and upbeat painting called Our Revolutionary Choices. You can read more about this collection in my blogs.

Update:

5/21/20—People have asked me why my larger paintings are priced at about $1,000, yet many of my smaller paintings cost only $75.00. My art is happy and cheerful and lots of people like it, so I wanted to make—at least the smaller paintings—easy to buy. Especially with all the “virus crisis” isolation and depression going on, I wanted to make having a positive and happy and super upbeat painting on the wall something most people or organizations can afford, especially at this time.

Update:

4/27/20—Where have I been? I’ve been studying for and passing the EDAC exam.

I am an artist and now I am EDAC certified. What does this mean?

“Evidence-based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) assesses your knowledge of the evidence-based design (EBD) process and its application in the design and development of healthcare environments. This educational program teaches you how to find, use and create relevant research to improve healthcare outcomes and add to the knowledge base of EBD.”

Many people today are claiming their art is evidence-based. Some claims are legitimate, while some are fake. I care about people and care about acting responsibly, especially when dealing with “healthcare” outcomes. So, I decided if I make the claim to create evidence-based art, then I should show credibility and become credentialed in the EBD (Evidence-based Design) process.

Update:

3/5/20—Some clients like a painting, but it’s just not the right size for them. So…if someone likes a smaller painting (see last image)…I’m now offering to create a “similar” one in a preferred larger size (see all other images). Here’s what can be done with Flowers Playing Peekaboo!

Update:

2/20/20—Wow! So much has happened this month! A new interior designer emailed and asked if I took commissions. In the end I decided my artistic style wouldn’t fit with what the clients wanted, but the clients (people I’ve never met but who seem so cool) really “inspired” me to put together a book for bees and butterflies and other pollinators. I believe there’s a BIG connection between Nature and human health, healing and happiness. (In the end, these delightful people ended up buying a smaller painting!)

Since my last update, I also became an “artist participant” at ForMotherNature.com. Artists at this site “pledge to donate” a percentage of their sales price to different organizations that help animals and nature. For paintings on my “Why Kill Nature?” webpage at dorotheasandra.com, I decided to donate 20% of my sales profits to the Xerces Society—a science-based nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats.

I’m also planning to donate a painting to another hospital this month. This time I selected a hospital in Los Angeles because my son (who is a well-known graphic designer in the film industry) lives there. The hospital I contacted has an arts program and I’m still waiting to hear back from them.

In my next blog I also plan to write about “evidence-based” restorative/healing art. I’m starting to notice that some people (art pros, too) will say a painting is a “healing” work of art, but after looking at the piece (sometimes even with daggers and blood and twisted heads or totally abstract images), I start to really wonder if they’ve actually read (which I do) the “medical outcomes” research and if they really understand the depth of the psychological and emotional wounding that almost always occurs when patients and their families are dealing with major illnesses.

Update:

1/26/20—Inspired by an interior designer I met online—and I really loved her website and blog—I decided to follow her blog trends for 2020 and use lots of “blues” and “greens” in some of my new art.

Update:

1/14/20—The Great Lakes Collection has arrived. Check it out! There’s more to come!

Update:

12/30/19—People have asked me to create significantly less expensive “evidence-based” art for restoration/healing. When I was a teenager, there were many times when I needed real soul-damaged healing. I regained my truth and rhythms and balance when I located along the shores of the Great Lakes. Although I love all the Great Lakes (and plan to spend more time at the Straits of Mackinac), I am particularly grateful to Lake Ontario (especially the beaches of Toronto) and Lake Huron (both from the eastern shore of Parry Sound and the western shore of Northern Michigan). It was as if the Great Mystery/Creator/God moved through Nature and healed me. So…I have decided to create a Great Lakes Art Series. I will make them available as prints and charge $150 for an original and $50 for a print (museum quality paper and pigments).

Update:

12/20/19—I had so much fun creating Hopeful Happiness. I really enjoyed creating the glow, which was not done with an air brush. People have different reactions to my paintings—all positive:) I don’t create for myself. I like to imagine what would make others happy. I also deeply care about our planet and I like the idea of drawing attention to its beauty.

The Creative Thinker’s Garden

Update:

12/3/19—This BIG 5’ X 8’ canvas is finally finished! The Creative Thinker’s Garden was such a joy to work on. “Stress!” “Stress!” “Perform!” “Perform!” I thought of all the people who come in contact with today’s fast-paced need for action. This painting was designed to “stimulate” creative behavior and thinking!

Update:

11/17/19—NOT YET FINISHED PAINTING! 5’x8’ acrylic on canvas

Update:

11/11/19 — The easel is on the wall!!! I’ve been working on a 5’ x 8’ painting of beautiful flowers. Making mathematical adjustments for a larger canvas, I’m finding it a lot easier than I imagined. More photos coming soon!

MOST OF US AGREE OUR WORLD “DESPERATELY” NEEDS MORE POSITIVE ENERGY! (If you have a hard time imagining this, watch the news or spend a day volunteering, perhaps at a shelter or the cancer wing of a hospital.)

I’ve decided to do my part and create BIG—I mean REALLY, REALLY BIG—paintings full of flowers and happiness. Here’s a photo of what is becoming the front of my new easel. It’s getting attached to one of my studio walls. Right now it measures 5 feet by 8 feet, and it’s being designed so I can add to it for even BIGGER paintings full of flowers and color and positive energy happiness!