Sarah Woods takes a considered, almost meditative approach to painting the landscape. In a palette drawn from the cool northern light of the Cornish peninsula, she captures the subtleties of tone and atmosphere that are unique to the West Coast, expressed through tranquil brushstrokes, and a simplification of the essential, painterly elements of colour, space and form.
Each painting in the collection holds a feeling of calm within the landscape. A shift in hues and subtle changes of palette, painted with immediate and gentle strokes. Some works in the collection have the flatness of still water, low contrast light between the sea and shore. The playful and poetic forms of the river mouth with bright sand beside a warm blue water. Others encapsulate the brightest energy, the movement in the sky and reflections below.
All works resonate with a moment in time captured - the months of summer and my observations from a changing coastline. I have been drawn to capturing elements of St Ives from early morning throughout August and September, seeking the quiet between the days. A sanctuary of light, space and stillness that is grounding for the body and the mind. The collection is a series of small scale landscape paintings, working with the tactility of canvas and the fluidity of paint, framed in unfinished oak to signify the simplicity of natural materials.