Sarah Calleja

Painting is a language to express what cannot be expressed in words. In the past years I have tried to explore ways how to express a sense of place, a feeling, without being tied down to portraying the subject as it is but rather ensuring to use the subject toward creating a composition, a painting. I started painting at a young age being introduced to watercolours very early one. It is a medium I feel confident with, and  with time I have explored the medium’s strengths and have also painting in acrylics and more recently in oils. I feel that a painting is often captured in its first few brushstrokes and then slowly  as one adds on layers its reveals itself, always trying not to stop at just the right moment. I work swiftly and have used this tempo to my favour when I paint en plein air, which is a weekly appointment I have kept for the past 7 years. With time I have become drawn to simplicity , reducing even the number of colours used to work  with a restrictive palette. This is my journey and I try to follow it and experiment to keep the work as fresh as possible.