Artist Sharon Goodenough: The hidden words we carry

British artist Sharon Goodenough writes her private thoughts onto the canvas before she paints a single wave. What lies beneath, she says, is the point. Before Goodenough paints a wave, a horizon, or a stretch of sea, she picks up a brush and writes. The words are her own: memories, emotions, half-formed thoughts, and things she may never say aloud. Then she paints over them until they disappear.

The British contemporary artist began the habit as a private coping mechanism. Today, it defines her work and has become a philosophy of how we live. “The hidden words were initially a way of processing emotions and letting them go,” she says. “I’m not great at small talk, and what sits beneath the surface matters to me, both literally and metaphorically.” Her finished oil seascapes, inspired by the British coastline and places that have left a lasting emotional mark, carry that concealed layer within them. Grief, motherhood, loss, reinvention, disappointment, resilience, freedom, and hope all sit under the paint—invisible but present. Viewers are invited to reflect on the stories buried beneath their own surfaces.

More Than the Sea

Goodenough is clear that the sea is not her true subject. “For me, painting the sea is about far more than the sea,” she explains. “It’s about what happens to us when we stand in front of something bigger than ourselves.” It is also, she says, a language. “The sea is my visual language. I’m not really painting a place; I’m painting a feeling: freedom, space, movement, and that sense of being completely yourself.” The idea resonates at a time when mental health, identity, and emotional well-being have moved to the center of public conversation. Goodenough’s paintings offer a way of expressing experiences many people find hard to put into words, posing a deceptively simple question: what hidden words do we all carry?

A Winding Road to the Easel

Her own path to painting was far from straight. Goodenough worked in photography and special-effects make-up before returning to painting later in life. She has since built a contemporary art practice that has been exhibited across the UK and Europe. Along the way, she lived through many of the transitions that now feed her work: family upheaval, fertility challenges, reinvention, perimenopause, and a search for a more authentic way of living. Rather than setting those experiences aside, she folded them into her process. “I didn’t come back to painting because I had a carefully constructed career plan,” she says. “I came back because eventually, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I needed to paint.” She adds, “I spent a long time thinking about what I should be doing. Now, I’m incredibly grateful to be doing what I actually love.”

Growing Recognition

Recognition for her work is building. Goodenough has been featured in Artist & Illustrator, House & Garden, CanvasRebel, and Bold Journey, as well as in Premier Magazine UK’s "Women to Watch." She was also selected for Art & Woman Vol. III, a celebration of 100 emerging female artists from around the world. Yet the accolades have not changed the core of her work, which remains intensely personal. In an age of constant visibility and carefully curated lives, her paintings offer something quieter: a reminder that the most important parts of us are often the things nobody else can see. Everyone, after all, carries hidden words.

Sharon is currently exhibiting at Chalk's Gallery, Lymington, until January 30th, 2027.

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