Sarah McConnell - June - The Purple Pomegranate

The Purple Pomegranate, a fine craft specialty store, is featuring work by Lakeside painter, Sarah McConnell during the month of June. A third-generation Montanan, Sarah McConnell has been an artist and teacher for over a decade. Her work is sold in many galleries throughout the United States. She is the author of One Big Beautiful Bead, which was published by Lark Books in 2007. She paints portraits and makes jewelry in Lakeside, Montana, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Sarah talks about her work, “I paint children because they're beautiful - their eyes are bright, their skin is fresh - you can't really go wrong with such a great subject. There's infinite variety and I never get bored or run out of subject matter. I paint in mixed media - watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage - whatever seems to suit the subject best. By necessity (children are not famous for being able to sit still for a long time) I paint from photo references. I take lots of pictures, outside if possible. I'm striving to make my current work more painterly - my natural tendency is to be super-realistic and keep working until you can hardly tell the painting isn't a photo. My goal is to capture not just the likeness, but the moment in time. If you could put a summer afternoon in a bottle and take it out on a dull midwinter day - that is how I would like you to feel with one of my paintings.”

Meet Sarah during Whitefish Gallery Night, Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 from 6-9 PM. Sarah’s work will be displayed during the opening and throughout the month of June.