My work is based on personal journeys and remembered places. Painting is for me a reflective process, a return to those places and times that have burnt themselves into my memory, whether that of standing quietly in the empty space where the sea meets the sky, a moment of stillness watching storm-soaked light or looking towards a flood of morning light through hawthorn trees. I now live and work on Exmoor, where the watery skies and constantly changing colours of the landscape are a source of constant inspiration for me. I have previously lived in Botswana, Thailand and Malawi and I feel that the echoes of those wild and beautiful places are always there in my current paintings, by the sort of light and colours I am drawn to using, my love of big skies and my interest in certain plant forms- grasses, trees and wild flowers. I know that many in slavery are not able to experience such freedoms and delights and this work is the expression of my hope that this right will be available to them.
I work in mixed media and I am fascinated by what different combinations of media and materials can do. My work explores the variety of effects that can be created by building up layers of opaque paint with loose drizzles and swathes of flowing, transparent ink. Some parts of my paintings are careful and precise, created with quiet and careful deliberation, whereas other parts are expressive and fluid, with paint drizzled, dripped, poured and brushed on with great speed. Sometimes I might sandpaper or hose certain parts off again as I like the idea of a painting having a history and the idea of being able to look back down through the layers of media to the earlier stages of a painting.
Artist’s Site: https://www.saraheastercollins.com/ | Artist’s Email: info@saraheastercollins.com