Painting since she was 7 or 8 years old, Sandra’s journey has led her to express herself in a positive, hopeful way through colorful floral, landscape, and abstract pieces.

Sandra, of Rogers City, is the featured artist for July and August at Thunder Bay Arts Council Gallery, 127 W. Chisholm St., Alpena. Summer gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

“My goal is to create something that helps people feel uplifted and happy,” Sandra said on Friday. “I try to put hope in everything. I try to capture hope in the art.”

The contemporary artist is Evidence-Based Design Certified, a certification earned by those “who demonstrate an understanding of how to apply an evidence-based process to the design and construction of all settings that contribute to health, safety and well-being including measuring and reporting results.”

Courtesy Photo Dorothea Sandra is the July/August featured artist at Thunder Bay Arts Council Gallery in Alpena.

In Sandra’s words, she creates “art that makes people feel better.”

“I started painting seascapes in oil when I was 7 or 8,” she said in a press release. “I was trained by a man who could create horrible violence on canvas and by a woman who created city settings and people with just a palette knife.”

She hasn’t always created “happy” paintings.

“For many years I wouldn’t show my art because it was dramatic, dark and hideous,” Sandra recalled. “It wasn’t until I was in a place myself that I had positive things to share, that I started sharing my art.”

“My childhood instincts were to start from my soul and then paint outwards,” she added in the press release. “For many years I hid my art. It was too dark and too dangerous and reeked of nothing that I wanted to visually say to others or share.”

Sandra got inspiration for her floral paintings from being in Japan for five years in the late 70s and early 80s, she said.

“Today I want to share my art with everyone. Why? My soul has grown to a place where it sings each day,” she noted in the release. “Today — no matter in which category I paint — my art shares with our world one joyous word — HOPE!”

Sandra loves living in Northeast Michigan.

“I would change nothing,” she said. “The people here are good people. They’re polite and respectful. Every day I’m grateful for being here. I find the people so wonderful. There are so many talented people here.”

For more information, visit dorotheasandra.com or dorotheasandragallery.com.