Sarah Gordon

To see all of Sarah's work currently showcased at The Little Gallery please click here

I am often on or overlooking an ocean or sea and the water has always been a big influence on my life and works. The east coasts of New Zealand act as a magnet for me, dry grass green bush on hills sweeping down to the water, rocks, sand, dunes or cliffs, holiday patches or farms. Growing up in rural coastal Gisborne and now enjoying life in both Gisborne and the Coromandel, I’m definitely settling back into my East Coast roots. Having lived aboard a yacht and painting on the Mediterranean Sea has given me an even deeper love of coastlines in other cultures.

Inspirations in my life have been

❖ Growing up in rural Gisborne, Manutūkē, and more recently moving to the Coromandel, each with their own NZ east coast personalities.

❖ Enjoying a wide range of overseas travel, with it’s wild range of colours, tempo, people, land, seas.

❖ Sailing around a bleached out, hot Mediterranean Sea.

❖ Cycling the Te Aotearoa and other NZ trails.

❖ Landscaping and landscape design in Wellington for many years kept a pencil in my hand and when working outside watching the Wellington ‘breeze’ play on the water.

Mainly, I work with acrylics in either buttery thick or thin-multiple glaze layers. Most of my paintings are applied with an acrylic version of encaustic technique with multiple layers of acrylic paint with an acrylic wax slathered on between the layers. The wax allows light and movement into the painting. My bases can be timber, board, canvas and very heavy art paper. I often describe my painting style as ‘abstractly moving the paint around’ with silicon & steel spreading tools that sometimes look like they would be from a kitchen or a construction hardware shelf.