BRITISH OIL PAINTER FROM SURREY

Working in oil and predominantly plein air.

Sarah Manolescue is an observational artist with an unrelenting fascination for light and its effects. Based in Haslemere, Surrey with over 20 years of experience.

Sarah painting outdoors with a landscape scene on an easel

I'm excited by light and I chase it

MY JOURNEY AS A PAINTER

Before becoming a full-time artist, I worked in publishing as a magazine editor. I enjoyed it and learned skills that have been invaluable in running my business, but painting has always been my true love. After having children, I decided to go full time with painting and haven't looked back.

I've spent the last twenty years discovering who I want to be as a painter and what I want to say. I'm excited by light and I chase it – tracking low winter sunlight across my living room wall, creating incredible shadow shapes across everyday objects, or responding to a constantly changing landscape outdoors when weather shifts the mood entirely.

It has taken two decades to develop the skills to capture these moments quickly and succinctly. The day I feel I have no more to learn will be the day I should stop painting. I never want that day to come.

BROWSE COLLECTIONS
Sarah Manolescue is an observational artist

Member of Royal Institute of Oil Painters

PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION

I was elected as a full member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in 2023, and I'm also the author of 'Painting Light and Colour in Oils' published by Crowood Press. In 2022, I won the Small Painting Prize at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition and recently I won the Themed Painting Prize at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition 2025.

My work has been selected for exhibitions at prestigious venues including the Mall Galleries (ROI, NEAC, RSMA, Pastel Society), and I was commissioned to create 17 paintings for the Cashel Palace Hotel – a five-star luxury hotel and spa in Tipperary, Ireland.

COLLECTORS TESTIMONIALS

  • "You are such a very talented artist. We loved it as soon as we saw it at the Mall Galleries and still loved it looking again a few months later. It will be joining a rather lovely Bernard Dunstan on the bedroom wall."

  • "I can't get over how beautiful it is. I sat and stared at it for a good 15 minutes and saw more and more in the painting. You have such a brilliant and original style – being able to capture the essence of a view, but also the feeling of standing there, in that light, at that moment. It is magic."

  • "Absolutely beautiful, and the frame compliments it wonderfully. We are so pleased to be the new custodians."

  • "It's just perfect. What a beautiful painting. We love it."

  • "What an uplifting scene, my favourite palette of colours, it's fantastic! Thank you – I could become addicted."
VIEW AVAILABLE WORK

AN INTERVIEW WITH SARAH - PAINTING INSIGHTS

ARTIST STATEMENT

"Sarah Manolescue is an observational artist with an unrelenting fascination for light and its effects. Working in oil and predominantly plein air, Sarah prefers to work on small boards and in one session, so to preserve a freshness and immediacy in her work. Rarely does she have a subject or composition in mind, instead she waits for inspiration to strike, first placing large planes of colour, before working into the wet paint to add more information where she deems necessary. Sarah’s intention is to say just enough; her skilled drawing captures the essence of the scene she chooses to explore. Her eye for detail and the movement of light leaves a powerful, lasting impression of place and time. Sarah was elected as a full member of theRoyal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI)in 2023."

EXHIBITIONS + AWARDS

2025 COAST, Thompson’s Gallery, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
2025 Pastel Society Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2024 Mixed winter exhibition, David Simon Contemporary, Somerset
2024 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2024 Autumn Annual, Thompson's Gallery, Marylebone, London 
2024 Mixed exhibition, David Simon Contemporary, Somerset
2024 New English Art Club Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2024 In Nature Art For Charity Collective
2023 Elected full member, Royal Institute of Oil Painters
2023 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2023 A Plein Air Vision, British Plein Air Painters Group, RWS Gallery, London
2023 Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2023 ROI Exhibition, Thompson’s Gallery, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
2022 Elected associate member, Royal Institute of Oil Painters
2022 Small Painting Prize, Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition
2022 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2022 Art for Youth, Mall Galleries, London
2022 Chelsea Art SocietyChelsea in colour, Chelsea, London
2022 Chelsea Art SocietyAnnual Open Exhibition, Chelsea, London
2021 Art for Youth, Mall Galleries, London
2021 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2021 The Way We See It, joint exhibition with Georgina Potter, London
2021 Chelsea Art Society Wedlake Bell Award Exhibition, London
2020 Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2020 Mixed Summer Exhibition, Russell Gallery, London
2019 Art for Youth, Mall Galleries, London
2019 Mixed Winter Exhibition, Russell Gallery, London
2019 Chelsea Art Society Annual Open Exhibition, Chelsea, London
2019 City, Country, Coast, Norman Plastow Gallery, London
2019 Sky Landscape Artist of the Year (pod artist, top three in heat)
2018 Chelsea Art Society Open Exhibition, Chelsea, London
2018 The Artist Exhibition, Patchings Art Festival, Nottingham
2018 New English Art Club Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2017 Chelsea Art Society Open Exhibition, Chelsea, London
2017 Wimbledon En Plein Air, Norman Plastow Gallery, London
2016 Pop-up, Box Galleries, London
2015 Pop-up, Box Galleries, London
2015 A Figurative Series, Norman Plastow Gallery, London
2014 Merton Arts Festival, London
2006-2012 Wimbledon Art Fair, Wimbledon Art Studios, London

CONTACT SARAH