S. Ferrell is a California-based artist who’s intuitive color explorations and evocative figures spring from the subconscious.
“I’m not always sure where they come from. Even when I set out to paint from a realistic body pose, I’ll find myself getting lost in a shape or an unplanned color blend or the thickness of the paint as it hits the canvas.”
Her abstract paintings seem to tap the emotions of the sea, the texture of the sky, the humanlike qualities of trees. To capture these ever-shifting subjects, she paints with instinctive colors, immediate brushstrokes, and, often, emotional bursts with a palette knife. Her figurative works embrace the same style, with the subject sometimes caught in motion, sometimes in a deep state of stillness. In particular, her female forms tend to a sinewy musculature that has a quiet weighted power. The mood of her paintings are underpinned with a pensive melancholy. Midnight blue is the color most often found on her palette. Most of her paintings are untitled to allow the viewer to see what is to be seen.
S. Ferrell’s paintings are mostly in private collections. Shows include Jones Gallery, First Friday Art Walk. Notecards based on her paintings can be found in select stores in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. She also creates digital art for print and web projects. She has served as a freelance art director under the umbrella of her own company GreyLady Designs, and for 12 years she served as Director for Digital Design for the Los Angeles Times. S. Ferrell attended Northwestern University, teaches with the Shakespeare Youth Festival, and is a patron of performing arts. It’s all connected.