Sarah Bowman

Sarah paints intuitively, her landscapes are derived from memory. They are an amalgamation of places she has visited; Cornwall, Devon, the Scilly Isles, Andalusia. She thrives on exploring new locations to paint, searching for still-life and natural objects to depict. These works carry with them a sense of exploration and travel, and lead us into an imaginary world of distilled memory. 
Born into a family with a tradition of painting, Sarah grew up in the Frome valley of Dorset. She attended Wimbledon School of Art and Falmouth College of Art. During her time in Falmouth, she was drawn to the landscapes of the West Country. She then moved to Edinburgh as Gallery Director to Nexus Galleries, a collection of three contemporary art galleries where she was much influenced by Scottish artists such as Elizabeth Blackadder and William Gillies, and subsequently began working on still life paintings.

Her landscapes are influenced by the inherited tradition of the St Ives School, especially the motif of still life and landscapes viewed through foregrounded windows. Alongside this, an important visit to Tuscany in her late teens to see the Renaissance fresco paintings had a profound impact on her work. Her muted, warm palette, the dry scumbled texture of her paint, and the defined tonal values all reflect this Tuscan influence. In recent years she has turned to her garden for inspiration, creating her luscious, in-depth paintings of verdant, native, seasonal blooms, epitomising the British cottage garden.

Sarah lives in Devon where her husband owns an art gallery. Sarah’s paintings are widely collected and she has gained widespread recognition, most notably through her selection for the RA Summer Exhibition and gaining the Mary Fedden award at the Royal West of England Academy.
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