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As a girl she dreamed of being an architect, but the numbers just weren’t there.
“I didn’t have the necessary qualifications – math and physics,” British artist Sara Huxley-Edwards says in looking back at her school days. But she’d always been good at art, and “sort of drifted into it.”
Today she works on her paintings in a rustic studio in a village called Snitterfield, near Stratford-upon-Avon. “Plenty of tourists,” she notes of the town made famous as the birthplace of Shakespeare. Huxley-Edwards describes her mixed media paintings – often with layers of paint - as semi-abstract. Lately, she’s been exploring dining themes – a plate of fried eggs, groupings of pitchers, glasses, a pear, an onion. They hint at the quiet satisfaction in the aftermath of a dinner party, she says.
Huxley-Edwards recently put down her paints long enough to discuss her work.
So you started out wanting to be an architect. Are there any architectural influences in your work? Is art in any way like architecture?
I’m not sure there are any similarities between architecture and art, other than they both create. I did do a series of paintings based on buildings though, years ago. They were long, thin canvases filled with skyscrapers - a sort of layering of buildings, textures and mixed media, echoing the makeup of a city.
Do you remember your first painting or piece of art?
My first piece of art, that worked for me, was a painting competition that I won. I was about 8 years old. The prize was to go on a television show called “Tiswas.” It was very popular in Britain in the ‘70s.
My first paid commission was to paint a water color picture of a boat. I was 16. I think I was paid 30 pounds for it, which I remember thinking was a really good sum of money. I then went on to pain a train picture for the same customer – all very photo-realistic. Probably technically very good, but really dull.
In between then and now, I’ve done everything from interior decoration paint jobs and murals, shop signs, paper mache pots and jewelry to teaching in a college for 15 years and being an examiner. I’ve had a studio for four years, and now I’m just an artist and that’s all.
What’s your studio work space like?
My studio is the top floor of an old barn. Beautiful in summer, but absolutely freezing in winter. Consequently, I paint better in summer. I hate being cold.
It has two huge windows with old, arched shutters – very aesthetically pleasing and quite inspiring when I’m warm enough. I find working in my studio very relaxing. If I have a week or two where I can’t get to the studio, I start to get irritable. I need the release of making art.
You describe your work as semi-abstract, with many layers of paint. What draws you to this style? What is it that you like about it?
My degree is in textiles and I think that’s why I’m drawn to texture. Layering the paints and using mixed media allows me to work and rework until I arrive at something I’m happy with. I like the history of the piece being evident in its creation – the ghost images almost breaking through, of a painting on a painting. I like the idea that if my work was stripped back, there would be about six paintings on the canvas before I arrived at the final image.
Over the years I’ve done a lot of collage and it keeps resurfacing no matter how hard I try and move away from it. I love working with paper because it’s such an incredibly versatile material. Words often occur in my work too. I’m trying to move away from that but again, I like words and they keep creeping in.
What’s your work process like?
I hate being distracted, and I become completely absorbed when a painting is going well. Even a phone call is annoying. I remember the first time this ever happened to me. I was about 12, and still at school. We were reading John Steinbeck’s “The Red Pony” and when I looked up the whole class had gone out to play. I’d been so totally absorbed in the book that I hadn’t even heard the bell. I remember being really cross with my friends for not telling me.
My studio is in Snitterfield. I live in the next village over, so it’s all very handy. I could never work from home. First of all, we don’t have the room. Secondly, I have two young children who would always be wanting to help. Thirdly, and most importantly, I would feel obliged to continually do the washing, the cleaning.
I like going out to the studio, as it defines that time as soley work time.
Are there particular times of the day or night that you find more productive?
I keep a notebook next to my bed because I often seem to have really good ideas for making art in the middle of the night and it used to really bug me that I could never remember them the next morning. Now, I write them down and get a better night’s sleep.
You’re doing a lot of paintings with dining themes. Why did you choose that theme?
My love of good hotels! I love luxury – good food and good wine. I like the relaxed atmosphere, the design, the comfort, the presentation. All of it. But I can’t afford any of it, so I have to be content with an occasional meal out. I also love having friends over for dinner at home. I don’t know if it’s the artist or the perfectionist in me, but I love the details and I’m a very sociable person.
I think you get the best out of life if you work hard and play hard. I want to capture those moments after a dinner party, when guests are satisfied and relaxed.
What’s next?
I’m just about to start a new series of collages where I’m drawing inspiration from my father and his musicl. He’s a jazz musician, and consequently I’ve spend a lot of time in jazz clubs. They have a great atmosphere and I want to do a series of cut paper instruments with hands and lights – images from the clubs. I like collage and cut paper because I can do the layering thing again and again, but not stick it all together until it’s right.
I think it’s a terrible mistake to let work go out to galleries if you, the artist, aren’t happy with it. I’d rather put fewer pieces out, and know that my best work is representing me. I’ve noticed over the years that if you have a really successful painting and a really awful one, they’ll both sell. It’s the middle ground that’s slower going. Sometimes I keep a painting in the studio for months because I can’t decide if it’s finished. That’s when the layers get really thick, as I’ll continually add to it until I’m satisfied.
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