About Joseph S. Sturniolo
Painting Because It Pleases God
In Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is asked by his sister why he devotes himself to running when he is destined for the mission field. His answer has always stayed with me: “I run because it pleases God.” That is exactly how I feel about painting. I don’t pick up a brush for money or recognition. God gave me this gift, and when I paint, I know it pleases Him. That conviction is the foundation of everything you’ll find on this site.
How It Began
I came to painting later than most artists do. When I started — roughly nine years ago — I managed maybe one painting a year. It was something I did quietly, almost tentatively, without any idea of where it would lead.
Then something shifted. One painting a year became two, then a handful, then more than I could count. In a single recent year I completed ten. What began as a modest pastime grew into a genuine passion, and that passion continues to deepen with every piece I finish. The more I paint, the more I understand that I’m not simply making images — I’m learning to see.
What I'm Really After
I have no interest in painting pretty pictures. A pleasant scene that asks nothing of the viewer holds very little for me. What I want is for a painting to move someone — to stop them, hold them, and stir something they weren’t expecting to feel.
Every piece I create is an attempt to tell a story. Sometimes that story is loud and unmistakable; sometimes it’s quiet and lives in a single expression or a shift of light on water. Either way, my hope is the same: that the person standing in front of the work walks away changed, even slightly, by what they saw.
The People I Paint
Portraiture is where my heart lives. I love it because a portrait is never really about a face — it’s about a person, and about exactly where that person is in a single moment of their life.
When I paint someone, I’m chasing that moment. I want to capture not just how they look, but what they’re feeling and carrying — the weight, the hope, the history written into their eyes. A good portrait, to me, says something true about its subject. My Faces of Ukraine series came out of this conviction: pain, sadness, anguish, solitude, and quiet leadership, each face holding a story the world needed to see.
The Pull of the Water
When I’m not painting people, I’m almost always painting water. I’m mesmerized by it — endlessly, helplessly drawn to the way it moves and changes.
I keep a condo at Grand Lake that overlooks two of the lakes, and I have never once grown tired of the view. The water is never the same twice. It transforms with the hour of the day, with the weather rolling in, with the turning of the seasons. Morning stillness, an afternoon storm, the long gold light of evening — each one is a different painting waiting to happen. That constant variation is, for me, an inexhaustible source of wonder and subject matter.
What You'll Find Here
The collection on this site spans the two things I love most: portraits that look into the depth of a human soul, and outdoor and water scenes that capture the beauty I can’t stop watching. Most of my work is in watercolor — a medium whose translucence and unpredictability suit exactly the kind of emotion I’m trying to convey.
In the end, my approach is simple. I paint what moves me. I paint the images that reach past the surface and into something deeper. And I share them here in the hope that they move you, too.
Thank you for taking the time to look. If a piece speaks to you, I’d love to hear from you.
