Sheri Tardio

I love color. My paintings are full of strong, vibrant colors. I work mostly in acrylics because they give me the bright, beautiful colors I crave seeing and painting. I strive to achieve a sense of movement in my pieces. I want the viewer’s eyes to dance around the painting and find new elements with each glance. I create depth with layers of paint peeking through the canvas. Finding the balance between the chaos of multiple layers and the coherence of the entire piece is satisfying to me, as we all go through life trying to balance chaos with clarity and cohesion. Texture is also important in my work. I scribble, scratch, and make marks with various tools to create visual interest in my pieces.

I am a novice painter with no formal art education. I find inspiration in shapes found in both nature and manmade structures. I love to walk through the woods and notice the colors, patterns, and textures of flowers, leaves, clouds, and tree bark. I enjoy walking around cities and noticing the shapes of buildings, windows, signs, and walkways.

I have lived in Calvert County since 1995. I am married to David Tardio, my biggest supporter and cheerleader. We have an adult daughter who lives in Portland, OR. I have a background in clinical and school psychology and am a community mediator with the Community Mediation Center of Calvert County. I write poetry, and some of my painting titles are lines from my poems.