'Creating Space' Exhibition Catalogue

Creating Space A solo exhibition of paintings that reflect the powerful way in which the sea and coastal environment aid self-awareness, expansive thought and emotional space.

By contemporary Welsh landscape artist

Sarah Jane Brown June 2017 | Joanna Field Gallery, Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire

Creating Space

Sarah Jane Brown's new solo exhibition launched in June 2017 in the Joanna Field Gallery, Milford Haven. Titled 'Creating Space', this new collection of paintings reflect the powerful way in which the sea and coastal environment aid self-awareness, expansive thought and emotional space.

Inspired by the unique landscape of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and with the mercurial nature of the sea at its heart, Sarah Jane's explorative journey follows on from the success of her exhibition 'My Peninsularity' held in Off The Wall Gallery, Cardiff in November 2016.

Exploring from a perspective of mindfulness, this new body of work considers the state of being present and of fully connecting with the immediate surrounding environment. Simultaneously the artist is also examining internal beliefs and boundaries on a journey of self awareness. The subtle developing of this sense of seeing both inward and outward is illustrated through a sensitive and perceptive collection of paintings.

Situated in the Torch Theatre, a professional theatre venue and arts complex in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, the Joanna Field Gallery provides a calm clean modern space in which to view and contemplate Sarah Jane's paintings.

The landscape reminds me of the important things in life.

This geographical isolation makes me a different person, allows me to observe, to view the world objectively.

You can walk out onto St David's Head, a remote protected landscape, and know that a thousand years ago it wasn't any different. I feel less caught up with insignificant stuff, it's much more about what's important, what's fundamental.

Sarah Jane Brown

A gentle shift 50cm x 40cm | Oil on Canvas

Blanketed 20cm x 24cm | Oil on Canvas Board

Boundless 40cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Closure 20cm x 20cm | Oil on Canvas

Composure 60cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Connecting 50cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Counting blessings 60cm x 60cm | Oil on Canvas

Creating space 100cm x 160cm | Oil on Canvas

Dignity 30cm x 60cm | Oil on Board

Emerging 50cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Fire in the heart 41cm x 33cm | Oil on Canvas

Generosity 20cm x 24cm | Oil on Canvas Board

Genesis 61cm x 91cm | Oil on Canvas

Grateful heart 50cm x 100cm | Oil on Canvas

Halycon shroud 24cm x 30cm | Oil on Canvas Board

I am infinite 50cm x 40cm | Oil on Canvas

Immeasurable 50cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Inception 30cm x 30cm | Oil on Board

Ingress 24cm x 30cm | Oil on Board

Invigorate 50cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Latitude 30cm x 60cm | Oil on Board

Limitless 50cm x 100cm | Oil on Canvas

Luminescence 20cm x 24cm | Oil on Canvas Board

Moving on 20cm x 20cm | Oil on Board

Opening up again 41cm x 33cm | Oil on Canvas

Owning it 23cm x 40cm | Oil on Board

Resolution 20cm x 24cm | Oil on Canvas Board

Restraint 20cm x 24cm | Oil on Canvas Board

Soaring 41cm x 33cm | Oil on Canvas

Stirring 20cm x 20cm | Oil on Board

Tenacity 20cm x 24cm | Oil on Canvas Board

Tomorrow is another day 41cm x 33cm | Oil on Canvas

Turning inwards 20cm x 60cm | Oil on Board

Unfolding 30cm x 30cm | Oil on Board

Unveiling 50cm x 50cm | Oil on Canvas

Sarah Jane Brown

Sarah Jane Brown lives in the heart of the spectacular Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in West Wales, where her environment and earlier maritime career have instilled a deep affinity with the sea. Changing direction later in life, she studied Fine Art Painting at the West Wales School of the Arts gaining a first class honours degree. Since graduating, Sarah Jane's career as a professional artist has steadily gained momentum and recognition.

Sarah Jane has exhibited widely in the UK including several solo shows in Cardiff and numerous prestigious exhibitions in London, such as the Cork Street Open in Mayfair and with the Royal Society of Marine Artists at the Mall Galleries. She has exhibited as far afield as New York City, and her work is now collected internationally.

Sarah Jane applies her knowledge of Old Master techniques with contemporary working practise. Her expressive style combines a variety of methods; staining, glazing and blending in many layers, gradually building up thickness and texture.

Paint is applied with brushes, knives, rags and sometimes fingers. It is painted, scraped, flicked, spattered and poured on, and sometimes off again, until the finished painting presents itself.

Conceptually her paintings are an outpouring of personal feeling and a strong sense of place. Whilst the works are not abstract, they are open to interpretation.

Many offer a duality, using the landscape metaphorically to describe thoughts and emotions.

Emotion is key to my painting, because, for me, that's what painting is all about. It's, if you like, a visual form of poetry.

It's my way of expressing myself, my emotions, my thoughts and feelings, and paint is just the medium I choose to do that with. The landscape is almost incidental in that it gives me a framework to hang my emotions on.

Sarah Jane Brown

www.sjbart.co.uk