Artist Spotlight
Artist Spotlight
Her creative side grew into a talented artist
By Kathy O’Flinn
Glory Spinuzzi describes the ocean as her “backyard” growing up. Born in Sri Lanka, as a child she spent a lot of time with her grandparents where their backyard was the ocean. That explains the inspiration for her paintings.
When she moved to Naples with her husband, she discovered the waves were more subtle. The colors are different. There’s more transparency. While Sri Lanka has deep water, the crashing waves can be very rough and the blues are deeper, it also has water just like Naples, just like the Gulf Coast. “I try to capture both,” she said.
With water she finds a way to express her emotions. When the water can be rough and dangerous, she said, “Some of that aggressiveness comes through in some of my paintings. Sometimes it’s very peaceful. I can breathe and find comfort.”
Since she now has a child who is 2 1/2 years old, Spinuzzi finds Naples to be her home. “Before, I was somewhere in between,” she said, de- scribing life as somewhere on a bridge between two countries. “I miss home but having my baby made it clear for me my home is wherever my baby lives.”
When she goes to the beach with her son, John, and he’s running and playing, she finds it more peaceful, more calm and serene. “That’s why my sunsets are like that,” she said.
As a young child, age 2 or 3, her mom saw her with a pen or pencil sketching whatever she’d see. She didn’t think she’d become a painter but now as a painter she goes directly with a brush into the painting. While she did not take classes she watched YouTube and went to a lot of galleries to become inspired by artists.
Typically she will go to the beach and do a plein air sketch – a very small one, 5-by-7, spending 10 or 15 minutes at the most so that it will help her with the light, the proportion, the perspective and the colors, so she can begin the painting on a much larger canvas. Commissions are a different story. Clients will provide reference pictures and share the details of what kind of water they want. That’s her reference and she will try to bring her painting close to what they want but not exactly the same. Clients who have her water paintings already will ask for vineyards, birds and golf courses and completely different subjects. More can be seen on her website: gloryspinuzzifineart.com.