I paint, engrave,
teach

Valentina Damiano was born in Pisa in 1989. From childhood she developed a passion for drawing and trained at the F. Russoli State Art Institute in Pisa, specializing in painting and Ex-Libris engraving, before deepening her skills in life drawing and traditional painting at the school of Professor Adriano Bimbi at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

Her research interweaves classical glazing techniques with scratches and incised marks, seeing in plants and trees the supernatural power within the natural world. Gold leaf, inspired by medieval icon painting, brings light and hope into the material. The dominant subject is nature: her woods are dreamlike places where trees and plants become symbols and projections of the self — from the bark to the single leaf, every vein is part of her skin, telling her story. Nature is as silent as it is wondrous and powerful, from the smallest cluster of leaves to the most spectacular, infinite view.

The portraits she creates are mostly self-portraits or commissioned works.

Today she paints commissioned works and teaches art: she teaches teenagers how to express themselves through art, by carefully observing the world around them.