Meet Bruny Island Abstract Artist Sarah L Stewart
For me, the joy of making art is accessing a part of myself that is inaccessible through any other means. Painting enables me to express myself in a way that goes beyond words, exploring places where my inner landscape meets the outer world.
Living in Tasmania, specifically on lunawunna-alonnah/Bruny Island, I am inspired daily by the beautiful natural environment around me. While I don’t try to paint realistically/
Finding That Missing Piece
I came to making art relatively late in life, after I had retired from academic work.
As satisfying as my professional life had been up until this point, I always felt that there was a piece missing. Exploring the world of painting has supplied this missing piece.
A Snug Spacious Studio on Bruny Island
I am lucky enough to have a large studio, a converted double garage, separate to our house.
I have plenty of room for storing materials and lots of wall space.
A wood stove and a cosy corner covered with recycled carpet means that, even on the coldest, windiest and rainiest of Bruny days, I can be warm inside my studio, listening to music while I paint away for hours on end, oblivious to the passing of time.
Creating Abstract Art with Acrylic Paint, Favourite Tools and Found Objects
I work mainly with acrylic paint on stretched canvas or on cradled wood panels.
I particularly love taking my sander to a wooden panel that has many layers of underpainting – sometimes unexpected gems emerge!
I also like to use mixed media in my paintings – pencil, pastel, inks and sometimes collage – to create a variety of marks and add texture.
Nurturing the Balance Needed to Create
I nurture my creative muse in various ways. I love going to exhibitions to see other artists’ work, talking with other artists and reading books about art.
I also find that I need plenty of solitude, especially after periods of social activity.
I love being an active member of my community, and getting together with friends, but find that I need to balance socialising with quiet time – walks along the beach, tending our vegie garden, or just sitting in my studio, listening to music.
Immersing myself in nature through bushwalks, and more recently wild swimming, also energise me and help to restore a sense of inner balance.
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The Best Art Advice
The most valuable piece of advice I’ve been given about developing as an artist is to paint for myself.
It sounds simple, but it’s easy to get caught up in thinking about what might appeal to other people.
Whenever I’ve let myself go down this track, the work feels inauthentic.
It’s important to remind myself why I started painting in the first place: it’s about expressing myself, not a version of myself that I think others might like.
If a painting of mine resonates with someone else, I’m delighted; if not, that’s ok too!
About the Artist
Sarah lives, works and plays on lunawunna-alonnah/Bruny Island with her partner, their dog and their cat.
She has been painting full-time since 2021 and is represented by Nolan Gallery, in the Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart.
Discover Sarah’s website and explore her online galleries. Be sure to follow Sarah Instagram.
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Join the growing, supportive artists community today and have your Artist story told here.
Belinda is doing a great job creating a professional looking artist hub online. Check out the profile I posted recently to see how well she does them. To all my artist friends let’s help make this THE go to place to discover local artists.
You won’t regret joining Art Trails Tasmania . It’s a welcoming community for creatives at any career stage.Becoming an Art Trails Tasmania member wasn’t a hard decision for me to make as it’s such a wealth of knowledge and support.Being member provides a quality way to showcase your creative endeavours and it’s quickly growing in reach.
We operate a home based picture framing business and recently joined Art Trails Tasmania as a means to giving us exposure to the wider artist community. We have almost immediately seen increase in activity thru our online sites, which I am certain will lead to more opportunities to grow our business.
Artist Profile Stories
I want there to be more arts and crafts in our world, in our communities and in our own lives. Hopefully you’ve found this blog post inspiring and interesting.
So I’m creating, with your help, Art Trails Tasmania, allowing all of us who feel this love to create more of it.
And the Art Trails Tasmania blog is a key part of making this happen, telling the stories of members. It’s about what they have happening with workshops and classes, exhibitions, open studio trails, where to find their outlets, markets, fairs and festivals so you can shop their creations as well as their art and craft retreats.
Also being shared are the supporters of our artists, the galleries, shops, cafes, art societies and groups, places to stay and artist in residencies.
