Artist Q&A: Sarah Manolescue

Sarah Manolescue

HCA: How did you get into art?

Sarah: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t into art! I always loved drawing and would sell little sketches to my friends at school for 10p. I suppose I started to take it much more seriously in my early 20s when I realised it could potentially be something I could do full time.

HCA: How do you start each piece? Do you generally have an idea about the image you’re going to create before you begin?

Sarah: I’m a plein air painter, so much of my work is produced outdoors direct from the subject and in one session. I never know what I am going to paint, I just travel to somewhere I find inspiring and search for a composition that speaks to me, generally in the countryside or near the coast. I have no idea how it will turn out but that’s part of the attraction with plein air. I don’t have a formula for painting, I might mark out the basic shapes of the composition with paint first, but after that is anybody’s guess!

HCA: What materials do you use and why?

Sarah: I use oil paint mainly for its rich butter-like thickness and punch of colour, but I have more recently been experimenting with gouache on paper, which I think, as I get to know it better, might be really useful to use en plein air to inform larger works back at the studio.

HCA: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Sarah: I’m inspired to paint all sorts of things, outdoors and at home. I think the main attraction for me with any painting is capturing the play of light. Anything can be beautiful if the light is right. 

HCA: What’s your studio like?

Sarah: My studio is a purpose-built little space at the bottom of my garden. It’s chaotic most of the time but it’s my space to store work, contemplate and receive collectors. 

HCA: Are there any other artists (past or present) that inspire you?

Sarah: I find most of my inspiration on Instagram and I love to see what other modern-day artists are up to. I tend to find the work of other plein air painters really inspiring and it is exciting to find out how they see things and translate that in paint. There are too many to mention individually, but the British Plein Air Painters group is a good place to start! (www.britishpleinairpainters.co.uk)

HCA: What is it you are trying to achieve in your pieces?

Sarah: I like to think of my paintings as diary entries. I often return to the same places for painting but it’s always different, so I suppose I am trying to capture that unique moment in time in a spontaneous way. 

HCA: How do you know when a piece is finished and when it’s the right time to stop?

Sarah: I have been painting plein air for around four or five years now, and I would say as a studio painter this was something I really struggled with. But with plein air, you have a finite window for painting – probably around two hours before the light shifts and the scene changes completely. So I am forced to stop when my time is up. This has really helped me to develop my impressionist approach to painting, saying as much as I can with as little as possible. 

HCA: Are there any other art forms that you would like to try such as sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, painting etc? 

Sarah: I would love to master the potter’s wheel one day!