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Mending the Nets
Mending the Nets
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Sarah At Work
Sarah At Work
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Mending the Nets
Mending the Nets
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Washing Day, Andalucia
Washing Day, Andulucia
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Late Afternoon
Late Afternoon
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Fishing
Fishing
Sarah Bowman - local artist
Sarah Bowman is a well-known Devon painter who has exhibited with White Space Art in Totnes for nine years. Her latest solo exhibition ‘The Rite of Spring’ runs in the gallery from 1-18 March (2012).
It’s a fabulous exhibition. Are you pleased with it?
Yes, I am. I’ve enjoyed focussing on spring. It’s my favourite season. I love the anticipation as you go through the dull winter months. I plant the bulbs in the autumn and look forward to them peeping through as spring arrives. I look out from my studio and it makes me so happy when I see the snowdrops, the crocuses, the daffodils. It’s a lovely, optimistic time of year.
You’ve also painted some wintry scenes. I know your winter paintings are very popular. Why is that do you think?
It’s because I don’t paint many of them I suppose. I like doing them, I like the winter palette, the cooler colours. They tend to be of Dartmoor and the surrounding area where I live. I normally focus on Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and the coast. But I’ve been doing a lot of walking on the moor, I feel I’m just starting to scratch the surface there. I like the patchwork fields, the hedgerows.
How important is a sense of place in you work?
I have to have a feeling for a place. For example I have never painted Dorset although that’s where I grew up. I love it but for some reason it didn’t strike a chord. Whereas as soon as I arrived in Cornwall it was instantaneous. I think I have a lot more paintings to do of Dartmoor. Sometimes you can be looking but not seeing.
Recently you have introduced people into your landscapes. Why is that?
It’s an exploration of narrative. I put curtains blowing in the wind, or a bumble bee or a bird by the window. But if you see a solitary figure walking the dog in the background it suggests a story and that can make the painting more interesting.
In 2005, you won the RWA Mary Fedden award. Your work is sometimes compared to hers. Are there other artists who inspire you?
I would say the I’m aware of the palette of Christopher Wood, Winifred Nicholson, Mary Newcomb, Ann Redpath. But once I start painting I become less conscious of their work and the work becomes my own.
You are known for your ‘view from the window paintings’. How would you explain your continued fascination for this subject?
It’s something I’ve painted for almost ten years. I never get tired of painting it. There’s so much scope: the different backdrops, the places which give you different palettes, for example the warmth of Andalucia or the cold of Dartmoor in January. Then the interiors with their seasonal flowers, the lovely jugs and mugs that I keep discovering. There’s also the narrative that we just mentioned. They’re constantly changing and evolving.
In what way would you say they have evolved?
I’d say they’re richer. There’s more detail, more resonance, so more depth and confidence I suppose. As I get older, I get more confident in my work.
You’ve also painted some beautiful fish paintings for this exhibition.
Yes, I always try to go on holidays to places that might inspire me. A few years ago I went to the Alhambra palace and gardens in Grenada and I saw these fish swimming in ponds and I stored it away. Of course, I’m aware of artists such as Monet and other who painted fish. I did some a few years ago, then I was at a local nursery, Hill House and I saw the pond and I thought why not.
Do you have any favourite paintings from the show?
I’m pleased with ‘Washing Day, Andalucia’, and the stillness of the ‘Late Afternoon’. The fishermen mending their nets seemed to work well too and I enjoyed painting the fish, loosening up and exploring different colours. But we’ll just have to wait and see what other people think!
White Space Art, 72 Fore Street, Totnes TQ9 5RU. www.whitespaceart.com
01803 864088
First published March/April 2012 By the Dart