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

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I’m really happy as an artist and feel very lucky to be able to do what I do but I do wonder what it would be like to have another job. My dream when I was younger was to work-with animals so I do have that itch to pursue something with that. My aim for the future is to try and combine my creative job with working with wildlife in the field.

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.

I’m Sarah and I’ve been a wildlife conservation artist for 16 years. I specialise in creating highly detailed oil paintings and pencil drawings. I’ve always been passionate about the natural world and I started my journey not in the art field but in the Zoological field. I have a Bachelors Degree in Zoology and a Masters degree in Biodiversity and Conservation. I’ve always enjoyed doing art and my Father has been a wildlife artist since I can remember so I grew up watching him paint. At university I used to sketch in my spare time and a friend of mine saw a drawing I had done and asked to buy it. I was so shocked and I immediately grabbed my phone to call my dad. He suggested I started to sell my work like he did and that’s where my art career started. I fell in love with painting the worlds beautiful creatures and never stopped.

Where I can I like to get involved with a number of wildlife charities to donate art and hold fundraisers through social media. I believe in the power of promoting conservation through art. To name a few I’ve worked with Animals Asia, David Shepherd Wildlife foundation, Explorers against extinction, Wires, Cheetah the movie and a number of Wildlife parks and small none profits. I am currently an Ambassador artist for African Wildlife art INVICTA wildlife fund, something I am really proud of.

A dream of mine was to one day become a published artist and a few years ago I was asked to illustrate a wild guide book on British orchids. This took 3 years to complete with a total of 200 drawings. It’s probably one of my proudest moments where I really felt I had taken my art to a new level. Since then I’ve also illustrated the front cover to two New York Times best selling books.

I think I set myself aside from other artists with my zoological background. I know a lot about the animals I paint and the threats they are under and I like to educate people about the wildlife where I can. I’m hoping to continue to do this and to also combine my art with doing some charity work in the field to further help the wildlife that needs our help.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the best thing people can do to support artists and creatives like myself is to get involved in our social media pages. It’s getting increasingly more difficult to sell artwork and to reach new people. In a world that revolves around social media it’s becoming the number one platform to sell art. The more people that like, comment and share our work online the bigger the audience that piece of art will reach.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I’m not a fan of NFT’s. The storage methods used to house NFTs based on blockchain technology are responsible for emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide, making them extremely environmentally unfriendly. Aside from this issue, a lot of people do not understand how they work which makes them inaccessible. Aside from these two main issues another concern I have surrounding the bubble of NFT’s is that the amount of scams I get on a daily basis surrounding people wanting to buy my work and sell them as an NFT, it all feels very toxic and being someone who is trying to do her bit to save our planet, I cannot take part in something that is having a damaging effect. Until there is a way to produce them in an environmentally friendly way, I will not be participating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahstribblingwildlifeart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahstribblingwildlifeart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahstribblingwildlifeart/

Image Credits
I get my reference material for paintings from wildlife reference photos.