Inside the Studio - How Cindy Creates
Every painting starts in silence. No music, no distractions — just Cindy, the canvas, and whatever she's been carrying around inside her for days or weeks. The studio is where it all comes out.
The Space
Cindy's studio is a reflection of her mind — organized chaos. Canvases line the walls in every stage of completion. Tubes of paint crowd the tabletops. Brushes stand in glass jars sorted by size. There's a particular kind of order to it that only makes sense to the person who created it.
"I don't start with a plan. I start with a feeling and follow it wherever it goes — even when it scares me."
The First Mark
The first mark on a blank canvas is always the hardest. Cindy often stands in front of it for minutes — sometimes longer — before touching brush to surface. But once that first stroke lands, something shifts. The painting takes on a life of its own and Cindy's job becomes listening to it as much as directing it.
Layers & Time
Most of Cindy's paintings go through dozens of layers before they're finished. A color gets laid down, studied, painted over. A shape emerges and disappears. What looks like a single bold gesture on the finished canvas might contain weeks of work underneath.
This is what makes original paintings so different from prints — they carry time inside them. Every layer is still there, underneath, even if you can't see it.
20+
Layers per painting
Weeks
Per original work
100%
Hand painted
Knowing When It's Done
The hardest question every painter faces: when to stop. Cindy describes this moment as a feeling rather than a decision. "The painting tells you," she says. "There's a point where adding anything more would be taking something away. You learn to recognize that feeling — and to trust it."
From Studio to Your Home
When a painting leaves the studio it carries everything that happened there — the decisions, the doubts, the breakthroughs. Cindy signs every work and includes a certificate of authenticity so that whoever collects it knows exactly what they have: a piece of someone's inner world, made real and permanent on canvas.
"When a painting leaves my studio, it takes a piece of me with it — and brings something new into your home."
— Cindy Trestman
Understanding how a painting is made changes how you see it — and how you live with it. The next time you stand in front of a Cindy Trestman original, think about everything that's hidden in those layers. The weeks of work. The moments of doubt. The decision to call it done. It's all still there.
Own a Piece of the Studio
Browse Original Works
Every painting in the collection was made in Cindy's studio — by hand, with intention, over weeks of layered work.
Shop Originals Commission a WorkWritten by
Cindy Trestman
Contemporary artist working in oil, acrylic and mixed media.