”I have always felt at home with black and white. That is one reason I love to draw and have done so since 4th grade in Brooklyn, NY, feeling compelled to cover every blank piece of paper I could find. By using these two "colors", I was able to concentrate on the values that define shape and form, without the further complication of a color wheel. My goal through my years as a student of Fine Arts at Brooklyn College was to build a firm foundation for my future work. The ability to draw well has always struck me as the essential foundation you need to build on as an artist. I need to be able to sketch my ideas out in some detail before I start a painting. I need to work out  the composition, the balance, and the focal point using values alone. I will work out much of this in my mind before I ever start a preliminary sketch. I need to picture the turn of a head, the curve of a hand, and the drape of a garment before I touch pencil to paper. Once and idea has had time to solidify, I usually know what medium the work needs to be expressed with. That determines if I make a print, a watercolor, acrylic or mixed medium painting or a detailed pen and ink drawing. I occasionally like to do the same composition in a few mediums to see the effect. That can be a lot of fun. Some  of my favorite things about printmaking is that you need to draw well, understand value, and can make multiple copies of your work!  A win-win situation. ” 

Light is the paintbrush that brings objects to life.  I have always been fascinated by the way light defines an object or a space.  Our brain reads the images that light defines for us and translates it into a language read by our imaginations and our hearts.  In my artwork, I use light to bring an image to life on a flat surface.  I start with a basic reading of the colors for my shapes and composition.   Once I am satisfied with the basics, the real fun begins for me. I start to add the shadows and the highlights. This is what brings a painting to life. Whether I am working with watercolor or acrylic, I proceed in the same way, layering on wash after wash to create the depth I see in my minds eye.  I use light to give almost three dimensional forms to the shapes I paint.

When painting non-objectively, I create a world of shape, light, and color waiting to be explored. The captured light defines spatial relationships in subtle ways. I want to be able to feel like I could climb into my painting and follow the path of light from surface to surface within the boundaries of the canvas or paper. What is close and what is far away?  Follow the light and you find your way into the heart of the world I have created.

What others say:

Trish Gulino was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. she graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts and Education. While living in Northern Virginia, she continued her artistic studies by taking classes at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.   When her family moved to Plano, Texas , she enrolled at Collin County Community College and took 70 credits in ceramics, painting, drawing and printmaking. The college was a great place to meet other artists and to continue to enhance her skills. It was in the watercolor classes that she came to know several of the artists who eventually came together to form the group called –“Just-Art”.

Drawing 1 ("To Serve, Not To Be Served" and 2 (The Basin And The Bowl") were commissioned by the Deaconate Formation Program for the Diocese of Dallas, Texas to commemorate the Ordination to the Deaconate (ministry of service) of the Class of 2006.  The images were used on the invitations, worship aides, tickets and note cards made up for the newly ordained Deacons as well as the Deacons on the staff. Each new Deacon was presented with mounted and framed image of print #1 as a remembrance of their Ordination and their mission as deacons.

Selected GROUP EXHIBITIONs and awards:

2009 “Plano here, Plano there, Plano every where” City Hall Exhibition at Plano, Texas.

2005,2008 Exhibition at the Dallas Public Library on Frankford in Dallas, Texas.