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After graduating in 2008, she flew to New York to intern with designer,
Mike Perry, who she says really opened her eyes to how hard an artist has
to work to survive. After that it was back to London to start a career. “I
lasted six months,” Sarah laughs. “I went to Southeast Asia and worked
as a scuba instructor for a while, then I learned to snowboard in Japan.”
And snowboarding delivered her toWhistler in 2011. “I love the
surroundings here, getting out and exploring. I pull a lot of inspiration
from the surroundings.”
Toweringmountains and dark skies play a prominent role inmany of
Sarah’s more recent illustrations and the ocean is another recurring
player—sketchbooks from the scuba diving days containmanta rays
and imagined beasts of a night dive, while one of her most popular
typography portraits is of Jacques Cousteau. And animals, lots of animals.
Tigers, wolves, bears, moose, elephants, crocodiles, a dog with wings and
all kinds of birds find their way into a majority of Sarah’s work. “I’m trying
to cut down on the wildlife, to not get too stuck on it. People love owls
and wolves.”
Also skilled at animation, Sarah’s most recent artistic outlet is to burn her
imagery into wood with an electrically-heated pyrography pen. “I picked
that up here inWhistler,” she says. Sarahmet another local artist, Julia
Vagelatos—co-founder of the boutique shoe empire Love Jules Leather, at
a garage sale and admired her pyrography work on leather.
“Jules showedme all her tools and I thought they were amazing. So I
ordered a bunch of different pens that you plug in and can adjust the
temperature.” Apyrography piece, like the super-detailed eagle Sarah
recently burned into a blank skateboard deck, can take up to a week to
finish, depending on the weather.
“I spend a lot of time outside,” she says. “Enjoy life—that’smymanifesto.”
“I used towriteand illustratemyown littlebooksand
handbind them, thensell them for apoundat the local
grocerystore. Theywereabout aliensandstuff.”
