'Heat Wave,' a painting by Sarah Searight, will be among the new works by the artist on view in Down Creek Gallery with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 15.
‘Heat Wave,’ a painting by Sarah Searight, will be among the new works by the artist on view in Down Creek Gallery with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 15.

Down Creek Gallery’s “Expose Yourself to Art” series of artists’ openings continues tonight (June 15) from 5 to 8 with new works by painter Sarah Searight.

Searight has been painting “plein air,” (or, in the open air) on Ocracoke since 1999 when she first moved to North Carolina from Port Aransas, Texas.  H

Sarah Searight. Photo by P. Vankevich
Sarah Searight. Photo by P. Vankevich

She spends half of her time in Texas and the other in Ocracoke, painting both coasts year round.

She said her work is solely inspired by “being able to live on the beach, allowing me to witness the constant subtle changes in the colors of the dunes, marshes, and ocean as well as swimming and surfing during my time off.”

Sarah graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and studied watercolor painting under Michael Frary at the University of Texas in 1981. She extended her knowledge of movement and figure drawing at The University of New Hampshire, attending a formal muscle and bone structure series of classes in 1986.

 She says most of her work is inspired by spending summers on the Gulf Coast of Texas and Florida as a child.  Along with her shows on the Outer Banks, she shows her work along the Gulf Coast of Florida and in Austin, Texas.

Her scenes of the sea, beaches, and local surroundings are sought after by many who have come to appreciate the “flowing style” of painting and drawing for which she is well known.

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