Sarah Garforth
Sarah is a Yorkshire based artist, living and working in Ramsgill, a rural village in Upper Nidderdale. Since graduating from the University of Northumberland in 1994, she has enjoyed a varied career as a painter and printmaker.
Most of her work is based on the River Nidd and the reservoirs in Nidderdale, although she is also drawn to the coast with Staithes, Sandsend and the Northumberland coast being favourite locations. She is a keen walker and works in a traditional way, collecting sketches out in the field and developing her ideas back in the studio.
“My sketchbooks have been an integral part of my work for years and becoming increasingly so. They get filled with ideas, trying to emulate a mood or weather with a simple gesture, allowing myself to play with colour, mark making and found objects. I try to detach myself from the pressure of what it will become and to just enjoy being on location.
In my current work I’m trying to bridge the gap. By continuing with the idea of play the piece can evolve rather than predetermining elements. I have introduced mixed media into the oils, using cold wax, marble dust, graphite, R&F pigment sticks and gambasol, applying with spatulas, scrapers, and knives, with very little brush work. By working in layers I can scrape back and draw back into the paint, in a sgraffito manner, connecting back to the original image.”
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