HANCOCK, Vt. (WCAX) – In Hancock, you can find boundless creativity in one shared studio. Just an arm’s length away from her dad and fellow Made in Vermont artist, Eli Pimentel is painting worlds beyond these walls.
From her native Venezuela to her home now in Vermont, no matter where she goes, Eli Pimentel always takes the time to appreciate beauty.
“I feel a special connection to the Earth and the land and nature, especially here in Vermont,” she says. “Beauty in the simple things… the sunset or a hug.”
Her specialty is taking beauty to her brush, painting stunning landscapes from all around the world.
“My phone is full of pictures,” she says. “I have to erase them all the time.”
Pimentel, a graduate of Boston College’s art program, has been painting since she could pick up a brush. But, it wasn’t until later in her artistic endeavors that she honed in on a style.
“I refer to my work as pointillist paintings because they’re very easy to see, you see the points and they’re easy to understand,” she explains. “But, it’s not a traditional pointillist style.”
Deeply layered from dark to light, Pimentel’s works boast 50 coats of paint a piece.
“So, I begin with layers of color, the underpaintings, and I build up the dots and the brush marks,” she says. “I experimented a lot in order to get that depth. I had to paint in layers, and I had to create the sky a certain way and the far-off views a certain way, like the far-off mountains.”
Pimentel’s intentional, detail-oriented work is in museums around the world. She’s been recognized in cities stretching far beyond Vermont’s borders. And, while she grew up in the Green Mountains, it wasn’t until more recently that she started painting the place she calls home.
“Vermont just makes you take a pause. Contemplate where you are and who you are and what you want to do,” she says.
No matter if it’s a landscape of Peru, Colombia, France, Spain or a ski trail in Vermont, the goal is to take viewers to another place.
“In the end, if somebody sees my painting and is sort of transported to that image, that really makes my work done.”
Pimentel sells her work at art shows all over the world, but takes custom commissions, too. The best way to reach her is via her Instagram page.
