ARTIST Sarah Danes Jarrett
I love to be on my own in my studio, just surrounded by my daughter and the two dogs. This gives me the framework for being creative.
A self-confessed neat-freak, Sarah Danes Jarrett is a delight to chat to. Born in the UK and raised in Zimbabwe, Sarah went on to study commercial art at the Harare Technikon.
After finishing her diploma in 1985, Sarah moved to South Africa in 1988 and started her career in the design industry.
When Sarah became a mother in 1998, she left the design industry and bought her first blank canvas, oil paints and brushes.
Sarah is admired for her natural simplicity and down-right honesty. She admits that she doesn´t paint out of political motivation or to portray certain messages, but rather because she adores the process and journey of a painting.
Sarah has always worked with people and especially faces. She loves the translucency and reflection of the skin, confrontational eyes that narrate a story she cannot put into words. She uses colours that bear no similarity to skin.
Her style is paradoxically chaotic and controlled. Her brazen and aggressive brush strokes form soft curves, precisely cut with a sharp edge.
Sarah speaks of her controlling personality which tries to form some order in a world that is constantly in flux.
While her work is rather exquisite, bright and blocky, the colour white plays an essential role. Many will describe her art as chaotic, however each colour, or brush direction is well thought through. Sarah starts with the layering of colours and then rectifies the shape with the white paint. This is when the actual portrait comes to show.
Sarah is now considered one of South Africas`finest artists. She has been featured in numerous magazines and showcases her art in international exhibitions.
Sarah opts for a simple life out of the limelight and now resides in Wynberg, Cape Town, with her two children and her dogs.
