In Chicago, while earning a bachelor’s degree in fine art from the University of Denver, and then in New York City, where she attended the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design, Strand spent endless hours in two of her favorite pursuits: taking in great art and observing people. The camera became an important tool after she settled in Southern
California, as her career began gathering steam and she and her husband were raising their two sons. In those pre-digital days she used a telephoto lens to remain unobtrusive as she took pictures of people on the street, working in shops, or waiting for buses or trains.

It is from these years of collecting visual memories and photos that the artist now draws material for her work. Along with still lifes of fruit, eggs, unmade beds, and other everyday sights, her figurative paintings present the world in its daily, commonplace glory. These are regular people going about their routines, quietly involved in mundane moments that may not seem memorable but which, in Strand’s hands, become visually powerful.

“A lot of artists have grand themes,” she points out. “But I’m more interested in portraying the way we really are in daily life.” In NEWS, AFTER HOURS, for example, two men are absorbed in reading newspapers while a woman in the background sips
wine. Multiple layers of carefully chosen color infuse the work with warm, rich tones. Strand’s command of composition and light, and a compelling sense of solidity, transforms an ordinary scene into one that catches and holds the eye. Her images astutely convey the physical expressiveness of people in groups or alone—at work, at play, or at rest.

None of her paintings is based on a single photo. Instead, she pulls a figure from one, a head or hand from another, background elements from another. She alters the angle of light, combines figures, and from all the parts creates an entirely convincing whole. “I’m not so interested in portraits or likenesses of a particular person,” she explains. “I’m more interested in the universal—body language, gesture, the nuance of a turn of the head or a person stepping off a step.”

In the same way, Strand’s figures are rarely specific to a place or time, but reflect experiences familiar to us all—resting, working, waiting, interacting or not. Even objects can tell a story, suggesting human qualities and relationships, the artist believes. In STILL LIFE WITH TANGERINES, OCEAN SERIES, one piece of fruit sits elevated on an upturned glass before a sunset, while other tangerines of various sizes are grouped around it. In DUET, two pears on a reflective surface invoke the intimacy of a graceful dance.

Adding potency to each image is a fluency of shadow and light, color and form. “Under all good realism is good abstraction,”
Strand explains. “I tell my students, there has to be a strong underlying abstract design to catch the viewer’s eye and make them want to walk across the room to see it more closely.”

Ideally, good art also shows the viewer what it was that caught the artist’s eye. As such, a painting can reveal the overlooked beauty in our everyday world. “Most people go through life and look but don’t see,” Strand muses. “So it’s been kind of an
epiphany for me, to understand that this is one of the roles of an artist: to play a wonderful part in helping
people truly see.” o


EGGS TRIO, PASTEL, 6 1/2 X 8 1/2