Sarah Rhodes

John Steinbeck wrote, “Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes.” Hi friends, my name is Sarah Rhodes. Throughout my life, I’ve found a connection between nature and art. There is a glory in even the most common Crepe Myrtle. Gentleness and soft beauty in the hanging flowers along with strength and detail in the intertwined limbs can create brief moments in which a tree, the beauty in a simple tree, cover everything. Understanding and seeing this beauty and worth create an intimacy that challenges that of a human relationship. Every detail, from the flowers that become so full that they hang drooping from the tree to the bark that falls off of the trunk leaving a perfect design, holds hope. Glory found in such a quick observation can give life to the details of every other moment that makes up each day. There, fulfillment can be found. There, is a purpose much greater than my own. I’ve come to see this truth in every place I go. This is a day-to-day experience for me, yet each day is also filled by minutes of worry, exhaustion, and melancholy. Each day delivers disappointment, but each day is also given hope and purpose. Layers are built, with each one affecting and defining the other. As human beings, we are up and down, often having to relearn things repeatedly. It is a continuing process. In my work, I combine paintings and sketchbooks that acknowledge each moment: the routine, habitual day-to-day that builds up to the glimpses of glory. My purpose has been to create art that is honest and vulnerable and allows people to see both of these in my life. As I paint by building up layers of color, texture, and lines similar to those found in leaves, flowers, woods, etc., I respond to the experience of glory in life. I work from pictures taken of the places I observe and see everyday. My sketchbooks hold the process: the frustrations, experiments, ideas, and questions. These sketchbooks become both a daily journal of my life and a daily record of the painting process. Each step equally leads to understanding the wonder in life. It is a celebration of life, every part, that I hope the viewers will understand.