ARTIST STATEMENT

"Painting the landscape, for me, is the process of enticing a scene to emerge and reveal itself on the canvas. Rather than focusing on the result, I allow myself to fully enjoy the process of creation. Every painting is a chance to explore and discover something new-about painting, about the natural world and about myself. Spending time on location, either painting en plein air or capturing images with the camera, allows me to see, feel and respond to the scene viscerally and intuitively. On site, I try to be like a good listener in an important conversation, taking the time to really hear the essence of what is being spoken. I strive to capture the light, the mood, the time of day and the season. The painting is not, however, merely a recording of the scene.
As an artist I feel it is my role to push the color to a heightened state of vitality. Compositionally, I adjust elements of shape and pattern to create interest and to draw the eye into the scene. I focus on depicting scenes I find inspirational, magical or simply beautiful. When I see something I am drawn to paint I feel lit up inside and totally expansive. My aim is to paint so that the viewer might get a glimpse of that experience as well—that they may want to go into the scene and live there, if just for a moment.”

BIOGRAPHY

Terry Sauvé has been painting in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1996 when she settled here to attend the Academy of Art College. She has studied with some of the area’s best painters including Brian Blood, Craig Nelson, William Maughn and Randall Sexton. Her primary focus is on landscape painting. Feeling a deep connection with nature, she is inspired by the natural light falling over a scene. Capturing this magical quality of light is one focus of her paintings, as is “pushing” the color found in nature to enhance the painting. Her method includes taking photographs, making sketches and/or color studies on location. From these references she works on larger finished paintings in her studio. Here, she transmits what she has absorbed from studying color and light in nature into her paintings. Her most recent work reflects her love of the Northwest, concentrating on the beautiful scenery of Oregon and Idaho. Her prize-winning work was included in the Academy of Art’s Annual Spring Show for four consecutive years and published in the “New Fillmore” monthly newspaper (Oct. 2002). Her work has recently been shown in exhibits and galleries in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. Terry resides in San Francisco with her husband, Paul Scheffert, and her son, David.

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