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Sara Jo Renzulli drew here first horse at the age of seven and hasn't stopped since.
Imagine a young girl sitting cross-legged on the couch with the encyclopedia open to "Horses," intently drawing each part of the horse. Twenty years later finds Sara making her home and studio in Fair Hill, Maryland where art and horses continue to be the major focus of her life.
Raised in the city of Wilmington, Delaware with nary a horse in sight, Sara was somehow born loving horses. She must be a carrier of that yet-to-be elucidated gene that endows the recipient with an inexplicable passion for horses. How else can you explain it? Sara jokes, "My Breyer horses lived a very full life, except for the occasional few who suffered a broken leg from overuse."
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  When Sara's father and stepmother bought a small farm near Fair Hill, Maryland, Sara found heaven at the age of 13. "Our own horses, in our own barn. I was with my pony every spare minute, she says. Sara rode and competed in combined training events until leaving for college.
Sara's love of and natural talent for art was just as innate as is her love of horses. I remember my Dad catching me drawing one night under the covers with a flashlight. Instead of enforcing bed time he just smiled, probably tickled to see me unable to stop working on that particular piece—Untitled #26, crayon, 8x10."
The need to draw remained strong and her skill as a draftsman provides a solid foundation for her art. Sara received guidance and an informal art education in her fathers art studio. Initially she worked in pencil and watercolor. "Because my dad was a watercolorist, watercolors were readily available for me to use. I remember slowly learning to control the paint, adding depth, trying different techniques, and experimenting with colors. With time, and many an abandoned painting, I reached the point where my watercolors captured the effect I was striving for," she says.
Sara Jo Renzulli lives and works in her home in Fairhill, Maryland, where the Fairhill State Park and the horse country of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are close at hand. Currently, Sara divides her painting time between commissioned portraits of people, horses, and dogs (not in order of importance!), and artwork for art shows and galleries. Sara’s artwork has been featured as the poster and promotional material for the Iroquois, Virginia Gold Cup, Colonial Cup and Carolina Cup Steeplechase Races. Sara has had a long working relationship with Bit of Britain Saddlery, a national mail order business, providing the catalogue cover and illustrations for over five seasons. Since 1996, Sara has participated in several annual juried shows including The American Academy of Equine Art, The Yellowsprings Art Show, and The Immaculata Art Show.
Sara works in a variety of mediums including oils, watercolors, pastels, and pencil. Yet, she is almost always drawn to one subject, the aesthetics of rural life. “Painting what I know and love has been key in my career. I love a jockey sitting astride a straw bale, in the first sunlight of the day waiting for his next set. I love a foal peeking around her mother at me. I love the way hounds bound out of the truck, anticipating the chase. I love that our own dogs only look at us in that searching, expecting way. For these reasons, I paint what I do. Doing it well, or figuring out how to do it is a secondary and lifelong challenge.”
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