Lucinda's Biography

Originally from Florida, celebrated artist Lucinda O'Connell has been a fine artist in the Virgin Islands for 20 years. From her Caribbean home, she travels the world collecting images of light and pattern and transforms these impressions onto canvas and paper.

Lucinda is an alchemist of sorts. Her unique style distills the deepest qualities of island life. It translates into a positive feeling that emanates from the paper or canvas. The move to the Caribbean directed her full attention to painting and her creative drive. Lucinda is able to focus on the light of the islands by using pastel colors against dark shadows and painting the intense light that meets the reflective waters.

The artist is inspired by early mornings and late afternoons when the island becomes rich in texture and bold in color. Lucinda's current works capture these times with the thick medium of oil. These paintings are a study of radiance in abstract with overtones of tropical colors and patterns.

The guiding spirits of such masters such as Milton Avery, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri Matisse also have a place in Lucinda's creative inspiration. Of course, their expert tutelage came with the careful study of books and tenacious viewing of exhibits.

Lucinda's many accomplishments include being the resident artist at Caneel Bay Resort on St. John for eight years and, in 2000, becoming the first artist-in-residence for Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley. Her work has been featured in several magazines such as Caribbean Travel & Life and Islands Magazine, as well as on wine labels and even the television show Law & Order, and on the Today Show.

In her present position as resident artist for The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, Lucinda was asked to create seven original paintings for the hotel and for the residences of the Ritz-Carlton, that reflect the ambiance of the property and the feeling of the island. Six of these pieces were reproduced and now grace over 150 of the hotel's newly renovated rooms. Each of these rooms also showcases an original monotype.

Currently, you will find the lively and engaging Lucinda during her weekly art shows and watercolor classes at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas or at her studio, Cloud Nine.