A clinical psychologist and painter, Yolanda Sanchez produces expressive, abstract compositions that distill her experience of the world into colors, marks, and gestures. Inspired by nature, poetry, dance, calligraphy, and Asian art, and working with oil on paper or canvas, she approaches each work as if it were a palimpsest. Through layered smudges and strokes of color, she records her thoughts and emotions. Though Sanchez began painting figuratively, she eventually moved towards abstraction, which, for her, is the most direct and open means to connect with herself, her viewers, and her surroundings. “Making art for me is a way of being present in the world; it is an act of attention,” she says. “And through this attention, I give back and offer praise to the world. As such, my work is celebratory, expanding, opening, and about offering pleasure.”