The innovative technique Sarah MacFarlane has developed to create her work is immediately striking. The ruched surface of her landscapes comes about through using layers of dried paint to build up dimensions, collage-like. The artist actually mixes her pigments on cling film. When they’ve dried, she peels off the resulting pieces of paint and sticks them to the board canvas.
The artist meticulously accrues the acrylics, gathering them into stratospheric colours. It’s a process of preserving the memory of a landscape. They recall Etel Adnan’s elemental landscapes, the eminent Arab-American painter who noted: ‘colours exist for me as entities in themselves’.
Sarah MacFarlane’s work is also imbued with intense energy. The presence of the anonymous maker is evident in an arresting duality: the paintings’ softly as well as boldly hewn quality.
One of Sarah’s paintings has been acquired by her university, Gray’s School of Art: a sign of their confidence in the artist’s career to come. You can browse the artist’s current works on display here.
All work available to buy with an interest free Art loan. Select OwnArt at the payment page.
