Margaret Sharrow - presentation part 2

Roy Marsden's painting class, 2006. Artist's impression!
Image by Margaret Sharrow, 2009.

Continuing my Powerpoint presentation on my work...

One important more recent influence on my work is Roy Marsden. I have been attending his life drawing classes at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre and his painting classes in his studio for many years. He's the best life drawing teacher I've ever had.


Ansel Adams, Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, 1958.

Another theme in my work is photography. I have been taking photographs since I was four years old, and received my first 35mm camera when I was twelve. I still use it - it's a Pentax K-1000. I've always tried to capture the sense of wonder I feel at encountering a beautiful or sublime landscape, so the work of Ansel Adams and the photography in National Geographic magazine were the first things I tried to imitate.


Margaret Sharrow, Landscape, Carmarthenshire Beacons. Acrylic on canvas, 2006.

This painting, from my days in Roy Marsden's studio, was no deliberate imitation of the previous photo. But I'm using it to introduce the next theme in my work: colour. I have always been drawn to pure, bold colours, mixing them on the palette or directly on the canvas.


Claude Monet, Water Lilies (the Clouds), 1903.

I was certainly influenced in my use of colour by the Impressionists: Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh. There was a major Impressionist exhibition at the Albright-Knox when I was about ten, and after that I tried to make my own impressionist paintings, using pure colours and impasto application.

Margaret Sharrow, Portrait of my father teaching, acrylic on canvas, 2006.

Another aspect of my work is brushwork. I've been interested for some time in building up layers of brushwork, layers of colours. In that respect I've been influenced by many different artists, but in particular some of the abstract expressionists.

Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1945.

Jackson Pollock was for a long time my favourite of the abstract expressionists, and this painting is an old friend I revisit whenever I'm in Buffalo.

Pablo Picasso, La femme au chignon, 1901, and Les deux saltinganoues, 1901.

I also admired the solid forms of figures in pre-cubist Picasso, and Cezanne.

to be continued...

back to presentation part 1