The Work We Do: Linda Sperruzzi, The Painted Canvas

My name is Linda Speruzzi and I’m an artist and the owner of The Painted Canvas in Wading River.

Having a studio at The Shoppes at East Wind is a complete dream come true. It’s an absolute pleasure coming here every day.

I opened my first location in October 2011 in Wading River Square. This current location I opened in October 2016.

I’ve always been an artist since I could move my hands. My mother, who is my inspiration, she had a pencil in my hand since I was in the high chair.

I usually spend the early part of the day painting at my easel, either at the studio or at home.

I teach classes in the evening during the week for ages seven and up, and for ages five and up on Saturday mornings.

Our new thing at the studio is oil-painting sessions and different mixed-medium sessions that we’re doing at the studio now.

My weekends are usually filled holding fundraisers at the studio with our paint and sips, birthday parties and other events — and we always have our open paint days on Saturday.

At tonight’s paint and sip we were honored to have the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center bring in live owls. We learned to paint one of their Great Horned Owls, Meep.

My favorite part about what I do is the actual painting process. I absolutely love creating in any way. I love creating the projects to teach to my customers and my students. I love watching them become artists. Creating these paintings in a very organized, step-by-step fashion, teaching them that they really are capable of a lot more than what they think they are doing is one of my favorite things to do.

Hands down, painting animals and painting peoples’ pets is my passion. I just love it.

Working in Wading River, it’s a very down to earth and friendly community. It kind of has a country feel. I just feel so comfortable here and I’ve always felt so supported and accepted by the community.

I love teaching the children and on the weekends teaching adults. It’s an absolute pleasure.

‘The Work We Do’ is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork. This weekly feature is made possible by Peconic Landing. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview. See the complete list of previous profiles here.