sarah adams

about the artist Sarah Adams

Adams works within a European Romantic Landscape tradition and her intention is neither to emulate or negate what has gone before but to make honest work that means something to her. It is often the smallest, most subtle interrelationships that attract her interest; a quiet excitement amid the larger dramas of the landscape. A contrast, an edge, or a splash of unexpected colour can make the familiar seem extraordinary. The same can be said of paintings, the key to the whole thing might be some small detail, a glimpse of fugitive colour, or a seemingly chance and spontaneous mark.
Can this antiquated process still be a relevant creative activity? Visual excitement, and our feelings toward the environments we inhabit are enduring human responses, surely worth exploring. There is common ground, beyond the topographical content that influences any viewer’s response to landscape subjects. Painting is merely an act of communication, after all.
First published in The Jackdaw, Easel Words, March/April 2009?