Artist Focus - Sarah Underwood

Sarah Underwood

Our next featured artist for March is Sarah Underwood. You can visit Sarah's Feature window at the Wynd Gallery from March 17 - 29 and find out more about Sarah and her work below.

The Wynd Gallery is a co-operative art gallery

run by local artists. The gallery offers an

ever-changing exhibition of contemporary prints, paintings, sculpture, jewellery, photography, ceramics and textiles.

The gallery promotes the Arts in Letchworth Garden City and provides an exciting venue suitable for artists working across

a range of contemporary visual arts media. Throughout the year our artists will share their work through our feature window programme

You are our current featured artist at the Wynd gallery, with our featured artist window. Please tell us about what we can expect to see when we visit the gallery?

A colourful collection of still life paintings, mostly fruit, flowers, or other interesting objects that appeal to me

Can you tell us a little about your journey into art?

I’ve always enjoyed drawing and got into painting as a teenager and never looked back! I love the act of painting itself, it’s my sanctuary - it tickles my brain in a way nothing else does, I just love it. I did do a Fine Art course at university, but I mostly consider myself self taught, and constantly learning through practice, practice, practice.

What materials or techniques do you most enjoy working with?

95% of the time I will be working with oil paints, my absolute favourite and a bit of a comfort zone at this point. I dabble in gouache and digital art occasionally.

What’s one tool you couldn’t live without?

Not sure if it counts as a tool, but Liquin painting medium is a need!

Where do you draw inspiration from? Nature, people, emotions, or something else?

My inspiration mostly comes from everyday life - I like to capture a moment that evokes a feeling of happiness; a cosy cup of tea, or a coffee in the garden, a juicy strawberry from the breakfast table, sugar and lemons for pancakes..once I’ve got a subject to work from, I love to play with colour and arrangement - I hope when you view the finished painting you can tell I loved painting it.

What projects or ideas are you excited to explore next?

I’ve got a series of reference photos taken that really push that cosy, homey feeling - lots of tea, a good book, chocolate biscuits…along with cut flowers and lots of pattern!

Coffee, tea, or something else while you create?

Coffee!

What advice would you give someone who wants to start exploring craft or art themselves?

My advice would be to just do it and not worry about your final output being ‘good’. Just enjoy the process, get messy with the paint, explore different colours and shapes - no one needs to see the finished product if you don’t want them to, just keep practicing and enjoy it!