Meet Sandy Blake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandy Blake.

Hi Sandy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I am a self-taught artist. About 12 years ago, I signed up for a paint with paper workshop in Jacksonville, FL. I had been taking studio-style acrylic painting lessons but still felt frustrated that my art felt lacking in some way. The workshop introduced me to the Society of Mixed Media Artists (SoMMA), which started as a collage group. The group was welcoming and shared many mixed media techniques and art creation basics. The art created by the members was so illuminating to me! This art group taught me many ways to express my art creations, leading me back to paper-based ideas. I entered my first bird (a crane) in a show requiring the artist to use the sponsor’s public financial reports as the majority medium in the art. I won an honorable mention which gave me the incentive and confidence to continue exploring mixed media materials in my art. After entering my art in several shows or exhibits for a few years, I was accepted to an art gallery in Saint Augustine, FL. P.A.St.A (Professional Artists of Saint Augustine) Art Gallery which is a coop art gallery that has existed for 40 years.

Would it have been a smooth road, and what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There is always a learning curve to using your skills and digesting people’s perception of art. The experience of watching other people’s reactions to my art helped me realize that people have their own preferences in art styles, subjects and materials, just as everyone has their preference in the colors and decor they use in their home. Most of my struggles have been with the art itself, working to create the vision in my head or the feeling the subject conveys to me.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Most of my art is unusual in that I use painted and /or pre-decorated paper to hand-cut feathers, which are then glued together to create a bird framed in a shadow box. The largest shadow boxes are 18″ by 24″ and as small as 8″ by 10″. Many well-known paper artists tend to use white or neutral colors in creating paper art. I prefer to use color to make the bird more realistic, painting landscape backgrounds, and adding paper branches, leaves, flowers, or other ephemera. It takes more time to create this way, but worth the effort.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Follow what interests you, along with finding your style and medium. Keep creating and trying new approaches and techniques. If you paint realistically, try an abstract workshop. I always learn something pertinent in every workshop along with enjoying the support and camaraderie of the other artists, who inspire me to continue creating using other subjects and materials.

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