Summer Dreaming

Sarah Jane Tart likes to set goals and challenges. She participated in the Wrightsville Beach Invitational Paint Out in May 2024, painting the lifeguard stand at Beach Access No. 2. She loved painting with her portable easel on the beach so much, she decided to paint all 14 stands en plein air.

“It is so peaceful and relaxing near the water. I feel like you capture more of that essence in your work by painting it there on the beach,” she says.

She began her project in late summer and knew she had a tight schedule before the stands were dismantled and stored shortly after Labor Day.

“I work in projects, that is how my brain works. I knew if I set myself the goal of painting all the stands, I would go out there and do it,” she says.

The lifeguard stand collection was painted in three weeks with acrylics on birchwood panels ranging from 5” x 7” to 11” x 14”.  Sarah Jane met a lot of passers-by who wanted to know what she was doing.

She paints on canvas and paper, but prefers working on wood, even though it takes a lot of prep work. The wood panels must be sealed using gesso on the front to make the panel white and to help the paint adhere to the surface.

“I buy birchwood panels. They are thick, cradled panels, about 1.5 inches thick so they can sit on a piece of furniture as well as hang,” she says.

Each painting in the lifeguard stand series has Sarah Jane’s airy, whimsical style. They are captured in profile with a little backside showing and sans people. The stand is the main thing, but each is complemented with a cloudy, serene sky, peach and beige sand, or waves. Some include a pier or colorful foliage.

“Typically, my color schemes gravitate towards bright colors or a bit softer and pastel. I’m not heavy-handed or dark; my work is all light and bright,” she states.

Sarah Jane’s first wood panel painting was for her mother-in-law. She set a goal to paint more, and promised gifts for her mom, mother-in-law, and aunt.

“I was trying to paint more often, so I told them I would paint whatever they wanted. My mother-in-law wanted a scene from Bald Head of the creek. At that point, I had painted pine trees, field scenes, and florals, but I had not done anything like a coastal creek. That’s how it started, and I just haven’t stopped,” she says.

She was at first intimidated by waves. Conquering that fear, she created an ocean collection soon after moving to the area. Her water paintings include creeks, marshes, local seascapes and Italian beaches.

Flowers are one of Sarah Jane’s favorite subjects. She and artist friend Kelsey Howard visit flower farms in the area, such as Trask Family and White Feather, to pick a variety of floral beauties for inspiration.

Mason Jar Bouquet from her floral edit collection features mauve and pink zinnias with a variety of other flowers.

“Nothing feels quite so Southern as freshly picked flowers in a Mason jar,” she says.

She comes by that Southern charm naturally, having grown up about 15 miles west of Asheboro in a small town called Jackson Creek. She liked painting and crafts as a young girl and recalls painting some murals at Farmers Elementary School in Denton, where her mother was a teacher.

She earned a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications from UNC-Chapel Hill.

“My concentration was editing and graphic design. I originally was doing graphic design work after graduating. Painting was on the side,” she says.

Sarah Jane and her husband moved to Wilmington three years ago. Interest in her art picked up and she was able to begin painting full time.

“Moving here made a big difference. I was really working hard on my art and the business side of things. I was already painting coastal scenes, and the timing was right,” she says.

Her paintings are playful, airy, and full of bright and pastel light. Some of her garden path prints, available on her website, have so much light pulling you through the painting that the vanishing point almost appears to be in fog or some unusual light source.

“I am whimsical when in the process of painting,” she says. “You get in the flow of things and hours can pass and you have no idea. Sometimes you paint and get done and stand back and think ‘I don’t know where that came from.’”

Like most artists, she uses photos of scenes. Some are just viewed on her phone but more often she makes copies to view. She also leaves room for her imagination to weigh in.

“I feel like my best paintings aren’t even from a photo. I’ve been painting long enough, and we are surrounded by so much beautiful inspiration that I can just paint,” she says.

She doesn’t like to start with a white canvas or panel, so her norm is to apply a thin layer of color.

“I’ve got some in here right now, that first coat has an orange and a blue,” she says. “I’m not thinking about it looking a certain way — it will mostly get covered up — but just laying that paint down and having fun mixing the colors. Here’s where I want the sun to be, here’s the reflection in the water. It is fun to just get started that way.”

She has a busy year ahead with two residencies, one at Bald Head Island in January and another in rural France in May. She is also planning a coast-to-coast project, covering time spent in California last spring.

“Sometimes it takes me almost a year after a trip to begin painting things from it,” she says.

Sarah Jane mostly paints in her home studio or on location. She participates in local group events like the Azalea Festival Paint in the Gardens and the Wrightsville Beach Paint Out, a fundraiser for Harbor Way Gardens.

“It’s interesting to see what people are interested in painting. There might be multiples of us in the garden, but we are all picking something different to paint,” she says.

Sarah Jane takes inspiration from books about artists, traveling to museums to see art up close, and listening to podcasts about painting.

“I have lots of books about artists. One of my favorite books is Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabrielle. It’s about five female artists. It is so interesting to read about them and the writing is very journalistic,” she says.

Gabrielle depicts Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler as five painters who changed modern art. The book begins in 1928, just before the onset of the Depression.

Monet is one of Sarah Jane’s favorite artists. She enjoyed the room full of his Water Lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie during a quick trip to Paris a few years ago. She also visited the Centre Pompidou Museum and soaked in the inspiration of great artists from the past.

“I got to see the Water Lillies in Paris. I sat there so long. It was the beginning of my new venture. At the Pompidou I was looking at a Matisse and thought, ‘Wow, I’m an artist in an art museum.’ It really hit in that moment,” she says.

Sarah Jane also enjoys podcasts that talk about artists, their process, and how they got started. She enjoys Jealous Curator, now more of a newsletter, and her new favorite, Art Juice.

Art Juice is a conversation between two British abstract painters, Alice Sheridan and Louise Fletcher. They talk about what they’re working on, answer questions from listeners, interview guest artists, and include topics of interest to working painters such as how to showcase your work online.

She also has taken advantage of some figure drawing classes offered through the Cameron Art Museum, always honing her skills. And a good walk can lead to new ideas.

“I find inspiration outside in nature. I love being outside, so when it is winter and cold, ah no. But I do go to Airlie Gardens a lot. I go to the beach just to walk,” she says.

Sarah Jane’s work is mostly sold through www.sarahjanetart.com, her website. Original paintings and prints of her work at various sizes are also available for purchase.