Sarah Harcus

Some of my earliest memories are of artistic endeavors – either mine or others’ efforts to show me. I have painted and drawn all my life, studying at Bath Academy of Art and awarded 2.1 BA Hons degree. I have been lucky enough to exhibit many times at Harbour House over the years and take part in Salcombe Art Club’s annual summer exhibitions most years at The Loft Gallery in Salcombe, also the South Hams Arts Trail in a wide variety of locations. Until a few years ago, I also regularly exhibited at the Mall Gallery, London with the Armed Forces Arts Society.

My chosen subject matter is drawn from what I see around me – mainly landscape and seascape; the timelessness and rhythms which they provide, and the effect which light has on the contours and patterns of land and water. My work is becoming increasingly loose and gestural, while still firmly based on recognizable landscape, and I find I’m taking liberties with colour. For me pastels both oil or soft, in combination with acrylic and watercolour, provide an immediacy and expression which cannot be achieved in any other medium. This translates onto paper or canvas in a way which I find very exciting. Blackdown Rings nearby has been the catalyst and, along with the Avon estuary and coastline where I live, are a constant source of inspiration.

As a result of two wonderful courses at Newlyn Art School last year and the year before, I am thrilled to find that my early love of watercolour has been rekindled and channelled into a new body of work. As have a couple of courses at Salcombe Art Club renewed a previous love of oils – so a real mixture, which gives me freedom of media.

Painting flowers also gives me huge pleasure, both for their sculptural qualities and the wonderful breadth of colour and form.

It is individual reactions to one’s surroundings which make an artistic work individual and unique. I feel often that I am travelling a well trodden path – both in my own artistic development and working in this lovely area of Devon.