Sarah Yeung Story as an Artist

My story as an artist was completely inadvertent. I began painting at the beginning of quarantine in 2020 as my partner left for an indefinite period of time with the Ontario army in response to the new covid-19 pandemic. My first painting ‘lessons’ were done with the help of a few Bob Ross videos simply as a way to relax and create. Prior to, I had always kept an ongoing sketch book using willow charcoal as my medium. I never would have thought I’d be a painter, much less work with oil paint, a medium that was taught to me as the notoriously slow-drying, hard to conquer style.

After the first few paintings, I started to explore and naturally gravitated to portrait work. Through the ongoing support of family and friends, I began sharing my work publicly through Instagram and Facebook. Since doing so, it has wildly exceeded my expectations for the type of interaction and connection made amongst artists online. It is a constant learning experience for me as I observe other artists and in turn challenge myself to aspects of their work that I admire and want to incorporate. Such as that for the past year I have explored new ways of applications and thoroughly enjoyed watching my work evolve and change as I become more confident to carry out elements of realism and impressionism in my work. As of October 2020, I had launched my website (www.artsspeakstudio.com), offering fine art giclee prints, commission works and originals for sale. In a lot of ways, this past year within the pandemic has been a true blessing in disguise. A year ago I was a co-owner of a women’s kickboxing studio and was working beyond my capacity. Having now learned to slow down and be present throughout my days, it has really helped me reevaluate my priorities and the lifestyle you want to live. My next venture is broadening my audience by applying to online galleries – the model of which has also been drastically changed since the pandemic in allowing equal footing for smaller independent artists to be recognized and featured.

Adding to that, I’m excited to begin envisioning my work enlarge, offering large size canvas prints through my site, as well as tackling larger projects to further my experience as an artist. Painting for me has been the truest sense of therapy and revelation into a different philosophy in life. I could not be more grateful for the absolute accident that allowed me to find the most authentic expression of myself.

In love art, the art of love by Sarah Yeung “Serenity” Oil on Canvas, 50×50 inches.