Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Finnigan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

My intent to pursue a creative career started at 12…but it wasn’t the same creative pursuit I’ve now made my career! I joined band in 6th grade, found I had an unusual aptitude for the tuba, and immediately had a singular focus on music. I did not realize I lacked what was needed to succeed in creative fields until I went off to college for it, and was gifted art supplies to fill my free time. I fell in love! I spent the next several years skipping out on disciplined tuba practice in favor of more time with a pencil or paintbrush in my hands. It wasn’t until I fell hard for art that I understood I’d never have succeeded as a performer. I avoided auditions where I didn’t feel confident I’d succeed. With art, I was happy- excited even- to make things that weren’t good yet, to submit work to competitions or share them. Practicing etudes was a means to an end, but with paint, I reveled in the process. When I painted, I was more than just the interpreter of somebody else’s composition. When I saw music and painting in contrast, I knew.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Most would call me a landscape painter, and they wouldn’t be wrong. I’m enchanted by our environments and how they make us feel. The evidence people leave behind and shaping forces such as growth and erosion intrigue us with the story they tell. There is a language of environments that we innately understand, and we feel it in a stormcloud or in the warm light at the end of day. We are so affected by the spaces we inhabit, and they are affected by us. I paint in acrylic on wood, and seek to draw the viewer in as a solitary explorer.

That is my north star, but as a self-employed artist, I occasionally freelance doing illustration for games, books, or similar. All of my work is done traditionally in paint, and I favor illustration clients that hire me for me (rather, hire me for the landscapes I love).

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I graduated with a degree in music with no intention to perform or teach, I was forced to acknowledge that all I cared to do was make art. Four years of doing art in all of your free time can work wonders, but that’s nowhere near enough and I knew it! I found a job in IT, doing data cleansing, data analysis, and learning SQL with the help of google. It was a field I knew nothing about, but I knew that doing art meant being self-employed, and being self-employed was financially challenging (and oh man, was I right about that). I set about saving while working to improve on the weekends.

I had to pivot again nine years later, once I thought I had saved up enough money and built up enough skill and personal voice. It worked out wonderfully, but in retrospect I cringe, because now I see how much of it was dumb luck. The right exhibition, the right people seeing the work, at just the right time.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

So much of it is richly rewarding…the breaking ground on a new painting, seeing a finished work in its frame for the first time, or when you’re working on something deeply personal and you paint excited to know you’ll get to share it with others soon. The most surprising reward, though, is what it feels like for personal work to find its home. Client work can be stressful because they’re getting what they’re getting and even though you may be diligent and thorough, you can’t be sure they love it. Even when they do, it’s on behalf of a product. But when you create personal work, every painting has its person somewhere out in the world who will love it. I think of each one like a love letter. I don’t know who they’re addressed to until someone raises their hand and says “that one’s for me!” You never know who will resonate with which, but I love the potential they each have by just existing. I’ve been blessed by kind collectors who share beautiful stories with me about what a painting means for them and why they were attracted to it, and I’m still beside myself in awe at how art can connect people in profound ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sarahfinnigan.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahfinnigan.art/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.finnigan.902
• Twitter: sarahfinnigan.bsky.social