Portraits in Oil, Pastel and Charcoal by Sandy Cohen.

Inspired at a Thanksgiving dinner by her six tempting grandchildren, Sandy Cohen began late in life to paint portraits. She had retired from a very different sort of professional career when she simply began, cold, in 2009 to do an oil sketch of her eldest grandchild. Her six young muses and their keen-eyed parents spurred her on, as she mainly learned by doing. Also working independently from figure models at a Maryland Hall co-op, and at workshops with Rob Liberace at the Art League in Virginia, Sandy quickly found art becoming a prominent part of her life.

In 2012, she became an Artist in Residence at Maryland Hall. In 2013, Sandy's solo show of 22 portraits of Annapolitans at the Maryland Federation of Art received several independent awards. This was followed by another solo show in Spring, 2015, at the Martino Gallery, which included more contextual works on the theme “Becoming: Artistry in the Making.” More examples of Sandy's portraits, figurative, and other artwork, as well as discussion of her methods and commissioning portraits can be viewed on her website at sjcportraits.com.