“It’s wonderful to go for a walk and think I’m going to come back and paint this; it puts you on such a high”

Murrays’ Liane Wheeler chatted with local artist Sarah Elder to find out what inspires the former BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year

Hidden away in a quiet corner of the Cotswolds, Sarah Elder’s idyllic country cottage is a far cry from the plains of Africa so loved by the artist. Born in Cyprus and growing up in Fiji, wanderlust coursed through Sarah’s veins from an early age.

It was in Africa Sarah found her greatest inspiration resulting in her acclaimed cheetah painting winning her the title, ‘BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year’.

Sarah explains, “Inspired by landscapes, people and wildlife, I am constantly exploring new places and ideas. My passion for nature, adventure and travel take me on endless fascinating journeys, where I soak up the atmosphere, colour and culture of the scene before me. From the majestic mountain ranges of the Greater Himalayas to the delicate details of a bird’s feathers, I aim to capture the natural beauty of the world around us.”

The First Brush Stroke

Even as a young child Sarah was always drawing and painting, be it ponies or local farm animals and forever entering art competitions. Although neither of Sarah’s parents were artists, both had creative flair, her mother as a journalist and her father as an agricultural economist, a subject on which he advised many regions of the world and wrote many books.

“I have basically painted all my life and have always loved nature and animals. My childhood was spent outside riding my pony through the bluebell woods or helping on the farm. I loved birdwatching and was a keen member of  The Young Ornithologist’s Club and I used to paint with the wonderful John Faviel (author/illustrator of Railway Journeys of my Childhood), who’s watercolour set, now over 100 years old, I still cherish.”

Early Years

Carving out a path as a young artist was not however straightforward. Whilst Sarah received an offer to attend Camberwell Art School, her mother was less than keen for her daughter to pursue what she saw as an uncertain future as an artist. Instead, Sarah was bundled off to secretarial college.

On leaving college, Sarah pursued PA and admin roles in London, alongside painting in the evenings and weekends. One such job at The London Portrait magazine led to one of Sarah’s first overseas painting excursions.

“I yearned to paint at the Verrocchio Arts Centre in the heart of Tuscany, so I approached the editor and proposed writing an article about the Centre, supported with my illustrations.”

Verrocchio offers an idyllic retreat for artists and sculptors, and it was here at the young age of 20 Sarah realised a life of painting was for her. It was also the beginning of what has proved to be a lifelong love of Tuscany for Sarah, returning to paint many times since.

An African Adventure –  a life told in pictures

“In a way my paintings tell the story of my life”

In the immortal words of Picasso, ‘Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.’

Returning to London from her first overseas painting adventure, Sarah was hooked. Working at former stockbroker, Cazenove & Co, she spent weekends relaxing with friends on the gallops in Newmarket, often rising at dawn to paint the horses.

With the travel bug coursing through her veins, Sarah seized upon an opportunity to join ex-Cazenove work colleague, Edward Paice, on a trip to Africa. Edward was writing a book, ‘Where Warriors Met – The story of Lewa Downs,’ about the beautiful Lewa Downs Wildlife Conservation Park in Northern Kenya and he invited Sarah to illustrate the book.

Following the trip, Sarah’s illustrations were offered for sale at the book launch and much to her delight, every illustration sold. This was her greatest success to date, and it was at this point Sarah’s mother finally accepted her daughter clearly had talent and the art was here to stay. Although very unwell at the time, Sarah’s mother finally gave her blessing pronouncing, ‘You can be an artist, Sarah!’

This visit proved to be the first of many African experiences, with a subsequent stay at Lewa Downs resulting in a whole year spent travelling and painting across Africa.

Many of the resulting illustrations appeared in the Bradt Travel Guidebooks covering Tanzania, Uganda and ‘Africa by road’.

Sarah explains, “I am constantly inspired by my surroundings.” Wherever life takes her she cannot resist the urge to collect fragments of the world around her. “When I was in Egypt I collected papyrus, in Vietnam, rice paper and in Africa, elephant dung paper, to name but a few.”

Hugely creative in her choice of medium, Sarah has created pictures using charcoal collected from the campfires in Africa and has accumulated pots of dried earth from her travels that she uses to add texture in her paintings, sealing the earth with an oil glaze.

“I remember collecting dried lava when I was in the foothills of Kilimanjaro and coffee granules from the pots brewed over log fires belonging to local warriors. All these mediums I use in my paintings.”

The Cotswold Collection

Finally, in January 2020 Sarah moved to her cottage in the beautiful Cotswold village of Bisley. Whilst she had friends in the Cotswolds and her sister living near Stroud, she said it was a visit to Painswick Arts Festival with her sister that sealed the deal, saying “This was when the penny dropped and I realised there was a thriving artistic community that I wanted to be a part of.”

More recent travelling has tended to be closer to home and the offer of a friend’s holiday cottage in Cornwall during lockdown resulted in ‘The Cornwall Collection,’ a whole series of glorious seascapes, pretty fishing villages, boats and sunsets, all captivating the beauty of Cornwall’s rugged landscape. Sarah has subsequently embarked on numerous painting trips to the Cornish Coast.

At home in the Cotswolds, Sarah’s painting has taken yet another turn and tends to be more focussed on the beauty of the rural life around her, including boxing hares and a more recent focus on floral paintings.

“Being an artist is all about having endless inspiration. It’s wonderful to go for a walk and think I’m going to come back and paint this; it puts you on such a high.”

“You go through different themes and phases of life, immersing yourself in the world around you, from the high passes of the Hindu Kush to the aquamarine, waters of Zanzibar to the rolling hills of the Cotswolds and the Cornish coast”

Where to view Sarah’s paintings

Having exhibited for over 35 years, Sarah’s paintings hang in Royal, public and private collections around the world. Her paintings have been featured on TV, including a Sky documentary on her sporting paintings.

One commission was to paint malachite kingfishers for Prince Harry and Meghan – a painting they loved so much they reportedly renamed a wing of their house, the Kingfisher Wing

Sarah has exhibited in numerous London and regional galleries, as well as exhibiting at the Zimbabwean and South African High Commissions and the House of Commons. Further afield she has exhibited in the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Italy, New York, the South of France, Seattle and Singapore.

She now has a studio in Griffin Mill, Stroud, where she welcomes studio visits, and you can visit her website.

Sarah also works alongside several charities, including Debra, UK Art for Youth, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Parkinson’s UK.  For several years she exhibited/fundraised for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust which included painting their Christmas Card.

Sarah effuses, “It’s fantastic to do something you’re passionate about and to continually learn. My work is forever evolving and I enjoy the challenge of new subject matter and learning to do things in a different way.” To quote a friend of Sarah’s, “Artists teach the world how to see.”  Sarah humbly laughs and says she’s not sure about this but if you find yourself immersed in the depths of one of her paintings we are sure you will agree, these are wise words indeed.

Sarah effuses, “It’s fantastic to do something you’re passionate about and to continually learn”