After many years designing products for the home furnishings market, 2007 marked a new beginning for Sarah Gayle Carter - paintings in oil. Carter had always meant to turn her hand and eye to the canvas, but never seemed to find the time.

“After many years of working in a medium that requires very controlled expression, I decided to plunge in, and have had a great time with the looseness and freedom of this most traditional of all art forms. Very liberating!”

As a lark, she did a few high-spirited, expressionistic, dog portraits making good use of her years of working with color. The results, dubbed by Carter “Color Dogs,” have a funky, offbeat freshness that manages to convey not only the likeness, but also the personality of her animal subjects.

“Color Dog” commissions are keeping Carter very busy, as she also continues to work on other evolving subject matter. “I have no idea where this is going!”

“While I enjoy and appreciate the collaborative nature of product design,” says Carter, “I am thrilled to have found an outlet for another form of artistic expression. That said, those who know me will recognize my thumbprint on not only every product I design, but also every painting.”

“Whether Tiffany plates, fine furniture, or oils on canvas, my focus is on clean compositions with a certain lightness of mood, and handling that reflects the joy I find in creating and living with beautiful things.”