Originally from England, Sarah Bent has been living in Hong Kong for over 30 years.  A self-taught artist, she started to paint as her children grew and needed her less!  After experimenting with pastel and acrylic, she found watercolour and has loved it ever since.  She paints portraits of children and pets on a commission basis, as well as floral and botanical still lifes.  She's a member of the Hong Kong group, Artists Abroad (www.artistsabroad.org), exhibiting with them in Hong Kong annually, and also a juried Member of the International Guild of Realism (www.realismguild.com).

"My inspiration is light, and in particular; sunlight.  I am fortunate that the sun rises every day!  The secret to achieving a watercolour painting that sparkles is to lay dark next to light.  Images in nature are turned into abstract shapes and patterns when the light falls on them, and  those shapes are brought alive by colours that sing when placed alongside each other.  To achieve the depth of colour that I require, I layer colours on top of one another, often as many as 20!  The whites are the pure white of the watercolour paper.  Each of my paintings starts with a series of photographs and this year I have enjoyed travelling to Singapore and Australia to capture images of tropical flowers and fauna, as well as those that are abundant in Hong Kong.  I look forward to starting the process which turns my photographs into watercolour paintings."