The Orange Flower - Painting by Sarah Myers

The Orange Flower, Sarah Myers.  Acrylic on canvas, 2020.

She turns toward us, but her dark eyes remain averted; the expression of her scarlet mouth and her downward glance shows she is deep in her own thoughts. The bloom in her hair flares like a torch against the rich blue of the background. Painted 2020, acrylic on canvas.

The Orange Flower, detail.  Sarah Myers, 2020.

The Orange Flower, Sarah Myers, 2020.  Detail of flower.

The Orange Flower.  Close-up.  Sarah Myers, 2020.

The Pink Toque - Painting by Sarah Myers

The Pink Toque, Sarah Myers
2019

   She faces us directly, her eyes sparkling like the rich jewellery ornamenting her sinuous neck. A large aqua-green collar wraps her warmly and a pink satin toque hat sits perched elegantly on her head. The canvas, even with its deep, intense red, recedes from woman's poised presence, her confidence filling the entire picture. This work was painted toward the end of 2019.

The Pink Toque, detail of face.  Sarah Myers.

The Pink Toque, detail of necklace.  Sarah Myers.

The Pink Toque.  Close-up of face.  Sarah Myers, 2019

The Pink Toque, detail of mouth.  Sarah Myers.

The Pink Toque, detail of eyes.  Sarah Myers.

The Green Flower - Painting by Sarah Myers

The Green Flower, Sarah Myers
Acrylic on canvas, 2019

She glances downward gently, lips smiling at some pleasant, quiet thought.  Long, simple lines form the shapes, head elegantly poised on the neck with its graceful curve.  At the top, a little burst of acid-green marks the bloom she wears pinned in her hair, a bright hue which stops and accentuates the lengthy contours creating the rest of the image.  She is surrounded by a warm atmosphere of rose-pink and vibrant orange bordering on brown.  Behind her, blue shades toward the realm of purple and lilac.  Acrylic on canvas, 2019.

The Green Flower, Sarah Myers, detail of face.

The Green Flower, Sarah Myers, detail of flower.

The Green Flower, Sarah Myers, detail.

Sidewards Glance - Painting by Sarah Myers

Sidewards Glance, Sarah Myers.  Acrylic on canvas, 2019.

The dashing sweep of her hat darts in same direction as her eyes… Black, red, blue all rush across the canvas of the first painting in my newest series of artworks. Simple, rapid brush strokes define the face with its sideways glance and slightly parted, slightly smiling lips. A wider range of play from a larger brush, loaded with rich, intense black, gives the rough outline of the hat. Yellow-orange and even metallic gold speak from time to time to detail the woman's lively expression or the edges of her stylish headgear. November 2019.

Sidewards Glance, Sarah Myers.  Detail.

Sidewards Glance.  Detail.  Sarah Myers.

The Cranach Hat - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers
Contemporary Sculpture in terracotta

    She tilts her head gently to the side, counterbalancing the elaborate flare of her velvet hat. Around her neck cling rich Renaissance jewels; the top of her bodice is embroidered with a scrolling pattern of stylized leaves and stems; a few stray locks of hair escape from her ornate headgear, which is also beaded and jeweled. Her sidelong glance is thoughtful and bright but almost wistful.

     My most recent sculpture was inspired, as its name implies, by the paintings of a great sixteenth-century painter, Lucas Cranach the elder. His vital, energetic but opulent portrayals struck me as perfect source material for a portrait like this one, created in a vivid red-orange terracotta at about half life-scale.

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers
Close-up

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers
Detail 

The Cranach Hat, Sculpture by Sarah Myers

The Cranach Hat, detail
Sarah Myers

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers

Line Drawings - Baroque Mantle, Lady with Feathers and Pearls

Baroque Mantle, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal

   These drawings are simple in their use of line but somewhat ornate in the style they portray, with embroidered fabric, pearls and curling hair; the two faces – two imaginary portraits - contrast, one with open glance and one with a more tranquil but reserved downward gaze.

Lady with Feathers and Pearls, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal

Renaissance Condottiere - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Contemporary sculpture

     This Renaissance warrior in an impressive helmet may look slightly familiar from a profile among the incredible drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci. My sculpture of some years ago, along with being created in the round, also differs from the Old Master's sketch in the height of the crested helm, which more closely resembles Spanish armour from fifty to a hundred years later. But the scowling, proud profile gazing from under the beaked visor bears a very close likeness, as do the fantastic animals which adorn the front of the burgonet and the breastplate.

     With these photographs I am revisiting a piece produced almost a decade ago. Some things I might do a little differently now, such as reducing the startling size of my signature. But I remain as intrigued by the Da Vinci design as ever, which indeed has been a source of excitement since I first found it in a child's book of Leonardo's art many years earlier still, where the drawing was printed in the small volume I looked at practically before I could read. And the sculpture itself is a solid presence that continues to fill its space admirably, I believe, and one that I remain pleased with as it stares out at me, gaze unchanging, from under the shade of its formidable helmet.  

  

Condottiere, Sarah Myers, detail in monochrome

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Close-up.  Sculpture in stoneware.

Head of a Woman in Conte & Charcoal - Art by Sarah Myers

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers
Conte, charcoal on toned paper

    Having finished this sketch this morning I thought I would post it here - the drawing of a face with luminous highlights pouring over rounded forehead and cheeks and leaving a spark in the iris of each eye, while outlining layers of curls and beaded ribbon above. The forward tilt of the head leaves the woman's neck in shadow; lower down the light falls very simply.

The hairstyle is a fantastical one inspired by the Italian painter Fra Filippo Lippi, but the portrait itself tends more toward the tradition of eighteenth century drawings and the mediums used are similar; conte in white, red and brown; charcoal, and toned paper of a light brown.

Head of a Woman, detail.  Sarah Myers

Woman with a Diadem - Drawing by Sarah Myers

Woman with a Diadem, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal.

    One of my favourite drawings from the last year is this imaginary portrait, a woman in a Greek style of diadem. Minimal lines match the classical curves of her hair and headdress and the graceful tilt of her head, which is caught almost, but not quite, in profile. The sketch is rendered in strong black charcoal, like the others of my pictures in this long series. More of this collection is arranged on my site SarahMyersArt.com.

Woman with a Diadem, detail.  Sarah Myers

Lady with a Small Dog - Drawing by Sarah Myers

Lady with a Small Dog
Line drawing in charcoal, Sarah Myers

      This line-drawing is inspired by my sister holding my small schnauzer. The gentle hands and eyes, the little dog's pleased face, everything turned into simple lines drawn in charcoal...

Lady with a Small Dog, detail
Sarah Myers

A Favourite Sculpture - Art by Sarah Myers

Minerva in Pearls, Sarah Myers

With her gentle smile, lowered eyes, pearl necklace and tall helmet, this sculpture remains one of my favourites I have made, and my largest. She is life-scale or perhaps a little more.

Minerva in Pearls, Sarah Myers
Close-up

She was inspired from a sixteenth-century portrait of a young Dutch woman, Margarita Trip. The artist Ferdinand Bol dressed her in costume as Minerva and portrayed Margarita teaching her younger sister Maria Trip. I think in my sculpture I have used the mythological reference slightly more seriously and as a more intregal part - not indeed as homage to the Greek deity Athena (Minerva), but abstractly in praise of wisdom and the wisdom of elder sisters in particular.

Minerva in Pearls, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

A sculpture this size takes a huge amount of clay. In this case, she consists of stoneware I mixed by hand and kneaded carefully to remove air pockets. The recipe was designed by my sister Amy Myers - it is a clay of some resistance and strength even in its raw form. The sculpture was then built over a period of three days. I work directly into the clay with a rapidity which is partly to avoid the damage that too-early drying can create, but also to preserve the spontaneity and immediacy of the human touch.

Minerva in Pearls, side view

    All art and photography by Sarah Myers

Minerva in Pearls, Sarah Myers
Detail of face and helmet

Minerva in Pearls, Sarah Myers

The Hat - Painting by Sarah Myers

Hat, Sarah Myers
Acrylic on canvas

The lady leans forward in the shade of her brilliant red hat. Her chin rests on her hand and she looks just slightly pensive, lost in thought – but she is clearly ready for the summer, the sunlight and the long, bright days… Painted in acrylic on canvas.

Hat, Sarah Myers.  Detail

Hat
Painting by Sarah Myers

Face - Drawing by Sarah Myers

Face in Near-profile, Sarah Myers
Charcoal, conte, pencil, cut paper

    This is a drawing in charcoal, conte, and pencil; after the sketch was finished on light brown paper, the face was cut from the original sheet and backed with white bristol, projecting a sculptural effect.

Face, detail
Sarah Myers