Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Tudor

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

Like many artists, I was a curious and sensitive child. I was always outside, finding crystals, collecting moss and acorns and making enchanted worlds for myself. I often drew and journaled in my teen years. I wasn’t exactly your typical American teenager. I read classics, watched old movies and traveled to France. I cut my hair like Audrey Hepburn in the movie Sabrina. I immersed myself in poetry and literature. When I chose my college, I went to Bennington in Vermont for undergrad to study with nature poet Mary Oliver. I also wanted to be in the place known for inspiring my other two muses; Martha Graham and Helen Frankenthaler.

When I left school, my art was really choked out by my other pursuits like building what I considered to be a more respectable career. At the same time, I carried tremendous regret about not using my talents. At the core, I was deeply afraid of the vulnerability and failure connected with being an artist.

Years later, it was becoming a mother that really unlocked a lot of joy in my life. It helped me tap into playfulness, innocence, discovery and forgiveness.

To get back in touch with my art practice, I have made a concerted effort to invest in myself and to meet other successful creative women who have helped me tremendously to normalize a creative lifestyle and to prioritize self-care and beauty. These friends have changed my life and ushered in a deep self acceptance and growth. I now feel free to make mistakes and take risks in my work. Joy has resurfaced and it’s a full circle moment to the creative work and satisfaction I had as a child.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

I would not say that creative living has been a smooth ride for me.

I was an incredibly serious student and really poured myself into my work in college. It was a time of personal development, but I was very tangled up in the perfectionism that has been a briar hedge around my creativity my whole life. I took criticism very personally. Like many highly sensitive people, I need very little correction to fully change my course.

I left school looking for signs to follow along the journey, but all I found were roadblocks. It was 2002 and there really were not the same opportunities for artists to be self represented like their are now. My work was not developed enough in terms of a signature style and galleries didn’t want to represent me. I didn’t get into my top graduate school, and rather than trying again or applying to different schools, I just quit and interpreted my first real rejection as a failure. It took over 10 years to change that story in my mind. I am sad to say that rejection became the narrative that I replayed over and over.

In hindsight, I had the idea that I needed to be scouted and chosen and anything less meant that I wasn’t talented. I now understand that we must choose ourselves before anyone else can, and to live into our joy. No accolades or milestones will ever be enough to replace the connection between inspiration and creating something ourselves.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I am a painter living in Chester County Pennsylvania near Philadelphia’s Main Line.

I spent time in my teens and 20s in France where I fell in love with Post Impressionist artists like Van Gogh, Manet and Matisse. It is that experience that I credit for having a lasting impression on my work. I often capture the beauty of quiet scenes, landscapes and objects.

I would say that what sets my work apart is that I view art as a reminiscent experience. I try to infuse my work with a sense of nostalgia and longing as the process shows fading and layered marks to evoke memories and the passage of time.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

I would say that, like many artists, the time at home during the pandemic gave me the time I needed to invest more into exploring my art form. Oddly though, I was very aware of the online space prior to 2020, and when it became so saturated with new online businesses, it prompted me to want to further explore local and in-person art connections. I never thought I would enjoy gallery shows or community events, but now I absolutely treasure them.

Pricing:

• Prints starting at $35
• Originals beginning at $450

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahtudorart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahtudorart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahtudorartstudio/

Image Credits

Tina Crespo
Missy O’Malley