Sarah Armstrong’s luminous paintings capture scenes from Minnesota’s North Shore and beyond. In rich swaths of pigment and loose but measured strokes, each piece reflects the stillness and peace Armstrong finds in nature. Her process is calm and relaxed, while leaving room for discovery. “You have to be patient,” she says. “If something doesn’t look right, you keep trying and paint over, paint over, paint over, until you find what you were looking for.” She revels in new beginnings – “I love starting the day with a blank canvas.”
Armstrong grew up in Duluth and spent summers camping in state parks on Lake Superior with her family. She was a singer from an early age, attending college to study music education. She is a member of the Oratorio Society of Minnesota and has performed as an alto in MacPhail Center for Music's Sonomento Adult Choral Ensemble. Armstrong began painting about six years ago, and she would like viewers of her work to know that she lives with mental illness. “Art helps me thrive and live and gives purpose,” she says. “I got my mental illness in college, and it took years out of my life. I feel like I’m finally getting those years back. It’s a new chapter, it’s a new identity.”
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