We were first attracted to her painted stones. She collects them on outings with her husband and young son, smooth, oval and polished, from beaches around the region of Tuscany where they live. Sabina uses marble, the famous white and blue-grey marble from the mountains there. Carrara marble has been a world-renowned and coveted medium since the time of Ancient Rome. The Pantheon is constructed from it, and many of the great statues of the Renaissance were carved from it.
She chooses marble for her fantasy stones because of the way it absorbs color. It is an ideal base on which to paint. The photographs on Etsy don’t immediately reveal the size of Sabina’s painted stones. Some are less than an inch long. Because the fairy-like images she paints on such small stones are detailed and intricate, Sabina uses the same type of thin sable brushes that she uses in her restoration work.
In browsing through the Etsy gallery of her fairy stones, we were delighted to discover that Sabina also does oil and acrylic paintings on paper and canvas. We think her Florentia is reminiscent of Picasso, and Anna is like a cave painting, dramatic and intense with a minimalist touch.