What Are You Really Good At?

Community Watch watercolor 5 x 7 matted to 8 x 10 Available

Community Watch

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in south France, a special 40^th wedding anniversary trip with other painters to picturesque Frayssinet.  Since little was open on Sunday, we attended a small local flea market in a nearby town where modern “gypsies” living in RV’s set up stalls, not unlike our flea market vendors in Raleigh. We roamed the stalls, but came away without any souvenirs or even ideas for paintings.

Afterwards we drove to another charming town, Salviac. We ended up in a main plaza, where all roads seemed to lead. Here, like bees swarming around the plaza, our group of painters was abuzz taking reference photos for future paintings−vintage buildings, doors, alleys, and flowers. The plaza held a tavern, a church, cafes, shops, a beauty salon, second story apartments, and a WWII memorial.  Exhausted, we sat in the shade in the plaza.  Looking up through the branches of a tree, I spied the friendly face of a grandmotherly woman looking down at us from above her flower box of bright red geraniums. We exchanged smiles.  The light caught across her face as she rested her elbows on the sill. I instantly knew the painting I wanted to do. (She happily agreed to a photo.) 

This woman knew the story of her town.  I saw no malice in her knowing. If I were Detective Hercule Poirot, she’d be my “go-to” woman!

I’m often asking myself, when I look at my work, what are its strengths and weaknesses?  I usually focus on technical aspects. The best painters excel in technical expertise, yet reveal individual expression.  What qualities do I have that will help me reveal my artistic individuality?

Originally a student of cultural anthropology, I’ve always been interested in my community. My curiosity has led me to wandering the neighborhoods of all the places I’ve traveled to or lived in.  Different seasons and different times of day yield so many subjects to paint!  Whenever possible I take the most direct means to explore, walking.  Though I’m naturally shy, by taking the bus or subway I’ve learned to talk to strangers, and found out about local places. I believe my curiosity about my community gives me an open eye to a variety of subject matter, and usually a number of good stories as well.

Sometimes I don’t always understand why I select a subject, it just “appeals” to me.  But then later I recall an associated memory.  I hope my paintings do this for my viewers.  In the last few years I’ve consciously tried to develop the story-telling aspect of my artwork.  I like my paintings to suggest a story to my viewer, and I like to write stories about my paintings, such as the story associated with the little watercolor Community Watch above. (more information here)

Cultivate the qualities that make you distinctive.

A portion of my sales go to support bee/pollinator conservation.  Why?  Because I add beeswax to my oil paints, paint and consume the beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables those bees and other pollinators provide.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoy my essays, please share with your family and friends.  I’d like to hear from YOU!  Please leave comments and questions.

To know about exhibits and discounts, join my NEWSLETTER email list here.

My paintings are available at ---

802-A N. 4th Street, Wilmington, NC 28401 and online at Sheffield Art Studio

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Fine Art America FAA (for prints) http://1-sarah-sheffield.fineartamerica.com/

What People Want To Know About Your Art

When I first started to paint it was just for me-my own indulgence.   Maybe it really still is, but it’s also the way I stay connected with the world.  It makes me observe and engage and be responsive to how people react to my work.  I’ve become increasingly aware of how other people view my art.  I think more beforehand of what I want to communicate and of what story I want to tell.

They say “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Maybe so, but I find people still want to talk about what they see. They want to swap stories. They want to probe and compare.  I’ve had many viewers directly say, "Tell me the story of this painting". I think they are asking me the following:

• Details of time and place of the subject
• What inspired me or why I chose the subject
• What personal connection I have to the subject/place
• Do we share something in common

Sometimes I’m evasive about exact details, as I want the viewer to have their own story, not just mine.  I like my paintings to have a universal story.  I enjoy sharing why I chose a subject and about personal connections.  I especially like learning from them the story they see.

Many paintings I’ve done have been based on interior home scenes, family travels and family heirlooms.  The back stories to these paintings are varied and personal. Constructing short essays about the paintings has helped me see themes in my work. I'm now collecting and organizing these essays into a book for a 2016 publication in conjunction with the opening of my studio in Wilmington, NC, tentatively titled “Painted Stories”.  Here’s one:

Platter Pleasing oil 16 x 16 Available here

Memories of Vintage Aluminum

Some of my favorite childhood memories were made at my grandparent’s house. I would bicycle through Detroit neighborhood streets to their Tudor style home in nearby Rosedale Park.  It was a grand home my architect grandfather, Charles Babcock McGrew, designed and built in the 1920’s.  The furnishings in the house hold a spot in my memory. My grandparents had antiques, two sets of silverware, lovely colored glass displayed in the dining room window, and beautiful paintings on the walls, some painted by Grandfather McGrew, a fine watercolorist.  My grandmother Hazel was an excellent cook, and she had special dishes for special foods, too. They served us banana splits in special banana split glasses, and made chocolate sundaes in special sundae glasses! They had decorative aluminum trays with fancy designs etched on them--chrysanthemums, tulips, dogwoods, pinecones, and bamboo stalks.  Even scenes of far off Europe, where they had traveled.  Each tray was unique.

My grandfather, adorned in his Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts, liked to grill outdoors and these trays were especially useful to carry the hamburgers from the grill to the tables.  Bright and colorful anodized aluminum drink tumblers and pitchers complemented these trays, even though they made my teeth ache from the cold. I didn’t care so much for the tumblers, with their propensity for sweating and giving chill to the lips. But I enjoyed running my hand over the designs on the trays.  I was always fascinated by the hammer marks and scenes.  You could run your finger over the designs like reading braille.

I came to learn later that some of the better trays were hand hammered and pieces of fine craftsmanship signed with maker’s marks.  Later pieces were machine hammered.  The trays could be polished almost up to a silver sheen, and just as easily washed with a sponge. But they weren’t silver, and thus these pretty trays were even used to serve the cats!

These trays made me feel safe.  I might break my grandparent’s other fine dishes.  I was sometimes scolded for spilling my treats on their furnishings.  But these embellished trays-- no, I could appreciate and admire and never harm in any way! For me they represent a time when an ordinary item was made to be both pleasing and enduring.

A portion of my sales go to support bee/pollinator conservation.  Why?  Because I add beeswax to my oil paints, paint and consume the beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables those bees and other pollinators provide.

If you want to be the first to know about exhibits and discounts, join my NEWSLETTER updates email list on bottom of my home page here..

Thank you for reading. If you enjoy my essays, please share with your family and friends.  I’d like to hear from YOU!  Please leave comments and questions. 

My paintings are available at my studio in Cary, NC, online at Sheffield Art Studio

Please LIKE me at my FACEBOOK Fan Page

Follow me on Instagram  

Fine Art America FAA