Maria Calandra was born in 1976 in London, England and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She creates paintings that are inspired by her frequent excursions into nature. She pulls from both the real and imagined to record the lines and colors of reflected water, ancient rocks, twisted tree trunks and swirling clouds. The rhythm of music also plays an important part as she begins painting each work while listening to the same music that she listened to when she was in nature.