Jennifer Guidi: I find inspiration in nature—flowers, landscapes, and animals. I grew up in Palm Desert, California, and I spent most of my childhood outside playing, surrounded by the mountains. Looking back, I see how that has stuck with me. Now going for a hike or going to the beach helps me feel calm, and it feeds my well-being and my art practice.
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Q&A With Jennifer Guidi
The artist tells Scholastic Art how she uses texture and pattern to represent California’s landscapes.
Jennifer Guidi (b. 1972), With a Magnetizing Force I Pulled the Sky Over Me, 2024. Oil and sand on linen. ©Jennifer Guidi.
Guidi calls paintings like the one above sand mandalas, referring to the circular pattern in the sky.
Scholastic Art: Where do you find inspiration?
SA: What is your working process?
Images courtesy of Jennifer Guidi.
Jennifer Guidi
JG: When I’m in nature, I’m constantly taking pictures and making sketches, usually in watercolors. Then if I’m adding sand to the canvas, I work flat on the floor. I trowel on a thick layer of sand mixed with acrylic polymer, which is like glue. Then I make marks with sticks I’ve collected at the beach. Once that is dry, I paint on top of the textured surface.
SA: How closely do your finished works resemble the original photographs they’re based on?
JG: The photographs are a starting point, and the paintings become something else as I’m working. The color, pattern, and shape don’t have to stick to the photo. My imagination takes over, and I start thinking about what makes a good painting and how I want the viewer to feel.
SA: Why do you work with sand?
JG: I first came up with the idea of making sand paintings when I was on the beach. At that time, I was making abstract paintings. The idea of using sand just kept popping up in my mind. How can I do it? What can I add to it to adhere it to a canvas? How can I take what I’m playing with on the beach, bring that into the studio, and create a work of art to put on the wall? It was a lot of experimentation and this desire to figure it out.
SA: How do you think about texture?
JG: We’re not supposed to touch art, but there’s an instinct to go up to the surface and experience it. I think it’s something that is just innate in us as humans. We like texture and pattern, and I think it’s because they are of the natural world. Even if we’re not a hundred percent conscious of it, it’s familiar.
SA: How do you bring pattern and texture together?
JG: In works like With a Magnetizing Force I Pulled the Sky Over Me, above, I create what I call sand mandalas, made with holes in the sand. I also include flatter areas where I’m painting on top of sand with dots. I’m trying to create a difference between the sky and the mountains.
Jennifer Guidi, Whispers of Life Beneath the Snow, 2024-2025. Oil and sand on linen. ©Jennifer Guidi.
How does Guidi juxtapose texture and pattern in the painting above?
SA: How do you develop your titles?
JG: I journal, write poetry, and look through nature books, trying to find words that spark the inspiration I had when I created the paintings. I look at the painting and think: How does this make me feel? How can I convey that to the viewer?
SA: Are you working on anything new?
JG: I’ve been playing with water in different ways. Some of my new paintings, like The Eternal Cascade, below, have waterfalls in them. I like that the shapes are identifiable, but I can also play with form and color. When I hike to find a waterfall, I like the idea that it’s this magical hidden place
SA: What do you hope viewers take away from your work?
JG: I’m trying to evoke feelings of calm, happiness, joy, optimism, beauty, and love. These are things that I feel when I’m looking at landscapes. I’m trying to translate that into my work and evoke those feelings in myself. I’m hoping to give the viewer that experience as well.
Jennifer Guidi, The Eternal Cascade, 2026. Oil and sand on linen. ©Jennifer Guidi.
In what ways does Guidi use texture to create the illusion of a waterfall in motion?
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