Anthophilia - The Love of Flowers

ANTHOPHILIA SARAH BOWMAN

INTRODUCTION

The love of flowers – Anthophilia – is the essence of this show. It is the thread that runs through this body of work, punctuated by explorations into new themes.

The garden series began a few years ago, inspired by my love of gardening. They are quietly evolving with a focus on the palette, exploring how a tapestry of flowers work together in the composition. As a gardener I suffer the disappointment when planting goes awry in real life. It’s a joy to rectify this and to create the garden I aspire to with my brushes.

The blackbird appears as much as he does in my own garden. Touches of black anchor the work. Just as it serves as a device in the garden collection, so this continues in my new cat series. These came about through furthering what I try to do in the tabletop paintings, which is to pare back, simplify and let the subtlety of quiet layers of flickering paint speak for itself. It’s not about the cat. There are exhausting levels of detail in the garden studies, so it calms the mind to interchange between the different methods of practice.

There’s barely a window sill in sight in this exhibition, I’ve climbed through the window for this one. A nod to the room with a view is present in the paintings of Mallorca, albeit saturated with a warmer Mediterranean palette. Above all, what I’m enjoying most is the use of more colour in this collection. Colour and love of things that bring me joy. I hope in turn that this is shared by others.

The White Garden oil on board 72 x 81cms

4

White Poppy & Blackbird oil on board 42 x 48cms

5

Velvety Reds oil on board 40 x 50cms

Blue Lupins, Blue Irises oil on board 50 x 70cms

Four Pears on Blue oil on canvas 60 x 80cms

oil on canvas 70 x 90cms

Orange

Grove, Dusk oil on board 75 x 66cms

Fruit Bowl, Black Jug

oil on canvas 50 x 70cms

Apples & Spotted Bowl oil on canvas 70 x 90cms

Cat & Pink Sofa

oil on board 50 x 65cms

Indian Yellow Cushion oil on board 79 x 70cms

14 Cat on Green Sofa oil on board 40 x 40cms

15 Pink Striped Throw oil on board 30 x 35cms

16

Cat on Yellow Sofa oil on board 40 x 45cms

17

Blue Striped Throw oil on board 30 x 35cms

18 Evening

19 Olive

Light, Mallorca oil on board 40 x 50cms

Harvest oil on board 40 x 50cms

21

20 Three

Figs oil on board 44 x 54cms

Peaches, Mallorca oil on board 40 x 42cms

Garden Pickings in White Jug oil on board 40 x 40cms

Spring Treasures oil on board 35 x 30cms

Early Summer Pickings

oil on board 50 x 50cms

26 Tulip Fever oil on board 42 x 50cms

27 Peaches & Cream oil on board 40 x 40cms

White Alliums

oil on board 56 x 75cms

Education

SARAH BOWMAN

Sarah was born in 1975. She grew up in Dorchester and studied at Wimbledon and Falmouth Art College. After living and working in Edinburgh for a few years, she moved to Devon in 2002. She set up White Space Art with her husband in 2003 in Totnes. Sarah lives with her family on the edge of Dartmoor.

1997 BA Hons Fine Art, Falmouth Art School

Solo exhibitions

2021 Hope Springs Eternal, White Space Art

2019 The Art of Simplicity, White Space Art

2017 To The Lighthouse, White Space Art

2015 The Birds and the Bees and Other Subjects

White Space Art

2012 The Rite of Spring, White Space Art

2010 Wren Gallery, Burford

2010 Ainscough Contemporary Art, Chelsea, London

2009 Moments of Being, White Space Art, Totnes

2008 Wren Gallery, Burford

2008 Ainscough Contemporary Art, Chelsea, London

2007 White Space Art, Totnes

2006 Room With a View, White Space Art

2005 Ainscough Contemporary Art, Chelsea, London

2004 Inside Out, Ainscough Contemporary Art

Selected mixed exhibitions

2018- Byard Art, Cambridge

2018 50th Anniversary, Thackeray Gallery

2017- Cricket Fine Art, Hungerford & Chelsea

2012-21 Summer & Autumn Exhibition, Josie Eastwood

2011-13 Russell Gallery, London

2011 Autumn Exhibition, Moncrieff Gallery

2009 The Glory of the Garden, Moncrieff Bray Gallery

2009 Essentially English Exhibition, Wren Gallery

2008 Autumn Exhibition, Josie Eastwood, Winchester

2008-10 Royal West of England Academy Open Painting

2007 'Spring' Josie Eastwood, Winchester

2007 Two Person Show, New Grafton, Barnes

2006 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (3 paintings)

2006 Art From Cornwall, New Grafton Gallery, Barnes

2006-11 Bircham Gallery, Holt

2006-08 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly

2005 ‘Coastlines’, Two Person Show

Beside The Wave, Falmouth, Cornwall

2005 Essentially English Exhibition, Wren Gallery

2005 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

2005 Royal West of England Academy Open Painting

2004-08 The Wykeham Gallery, Stockbridge, Hampshire

2004-07 Beside The Wave, Falmouth, Cornwall

2004 Easter Exhibition, Wren Gallery, Burford

2003-13 Ainscough Contemporary Art, Chelsea, London

2003- White Space Art, Totnes, Devon

2002-06 Pierrepoint Gallery, Bridport, Dorset

2002 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro

2002-04 Broadway Modern Gallery, Broadway

Art Fairs

2020 Connect Art Fair, Mall Galleries

2018 Affordable Art Fair, New York, Carina Haslam

2012-16 20/21 International Art Fair, Royal College of Art

2011-13 Works on Paper, Kensington

2011-17 Chelsea Art Fair

2011-19 Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead

2006-16 Affordable Art Fair, Bristol

2002- Affordable Art Fair, Battersea

29 Sunflowers oil on board 55 x 55cms