sally richards

Artist Statement

Artist Statement
I have always been drawn to the outdoors, often playing with abandon until the end of ambient light, eager to discover every detail of the world around me. As life unfolded my love of people grew and I experienced endless fascination with their uniqueness. My art has evolved from this love of the “nature of things” to include other sources, such as a lifelong love of travel, the many faces of places (home, land and water), the living things that thrive there and the often overlooked aspects in all of them.
My current work explores the “nature of place”- the essence, the energy and the spirit we feel when we experience our physical world in an intimate and moving way. My art means to capture the moment of that impression, to extract it from the total experience so that the moment of connection can be celebrated. It is meant to please, surprise, give rise to innocent memories and fresh impressions.
The places in my paintings and works on paper are imaginary, relational or abstract expressions derived from both observation and memory. I often eliminate details of place to allow for an immediate emotional connection so that the viewers may find something of themselves in it. I use color, form, structure and movement to convey light, love and spirit and to cause elevation and freedom in mood and thought, if even for a moment.