MEET ELLEN KANTRO

Throughout an eclectic career that ranged from graphic design, event management, video operations, software development and live theatre, Ellen was always an artist. Self-taught over the years with a workshop here and there, she reached the point where her day job was taking too much time away from painting, so she mustered the courage to leave her role as a corporate executive and is now painting full-time in Sarasota.

Ellen finds inspiration in many places – but in abandoned buildings and distressed surfaces in particular. She is influenced by the patterns of decay, and how traces of time and nature re-shape our surroundings. Her work evokes surfaces that hint at what was, and what remains.

Each new painting begins by applying something (anything!) onto the surface. Whether simple marks, paper, or random color blocks, each element informs the next, and the process becomes largely intuitive. Layers of paint and paper are laid down, scraped off and painted over until a history develops. Each element that is added (or removed) creates a problem that needs to be solve - which is both exasperating and liberating.

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