JOHN VAN KLAVEREN visits the studio of Sara Paxton, a Geelong artist with a novel technique that’s turning heads.
Going back to her childhood opened up a new artistic world for Newtown oil painter Sara Paxton.
Discovering pigment sticks enabled her to achieve effects impossible with brush alone as she experimented with the new application.
Pigment sticks or oil sticks as they are also known are actually oil paint in an easy-to-use stick form, resembling a crayon from everyone’s childhood.
Made from a highly refined pigments and linseed oil in a pure wax, pigment sticks are easy to apply and can be blended with brushes, knives, and paint wedges. Most importantly for Sara, they deliver a smooth texture and vibrant colour.
“Colour is the thread for me,” Sara explains.
“I’m drawn to works that are bright and attractive.”
“I do sometimes like to try different things and do some experimentation but when I saw the pigment sticks in an art supplies store it opened up a new world for me.
“They are like crayons and it was like going back to my childhood.”
At just five years old, Sara was already copying illustrations from a book of dog drawings.
“My treat was to go to the art shop once a week and buy a new colour pencil,” Sara laughs. “It didn’t take long and I had a complete set.”
Sara’s journey to accomplished artist represented by a slew of galleries around Australia, and locally by the renowned Seaview Gallery in Queenscliff, had its twists and turns.
“My family was always creative. My brother is a photographer and he’s even photographed the Queen,” Sara recalls.
Like many students with an artistic bent, Sara did art in school and when she graduated she was accepted into art college. But the economic realities of trying to eke out a living as an artist intervened.
“I realised you have to be on the top echelon of artists to be able to make a living out of it,” Sara says.
“So I dropped it for 20 years and worked as an exhibition and trade show organiser instead.
“I got back into when we moved to Geelong. I had three young kids and didn’t know anyone so I enrolled in an art class and picked it up again.”
As she developed her style and produced more works, Sara did the rounds of the galleries.
“As an artist it takes just one gallery to give you a break and that gallery for me was Seaview, so I am grateful to Colleen (Kenwood) for taking me on.
“We have developed a friendship and she is honest enough to tell me what she likes and what will sell.
“I am represented by eight or nine galleries now so I am always busy keeping up the supply of works as they sell and doing annual exhibitions.”
Far from the artist who gave up her dream to earn a living, Sara now paints daily and often receives commissions.
“There’s a balance between the artistic and commercial realities. I’m not so precious that I ignore what people like, but I still only paint what I like. No-one dictates to me.
“But I often receive emails from buyers letting me know how much they love my work and that seeing one of my paintings on their wall every day makes them happy.
“That’s a reward for me.”
