Artists

picked up something she hadn’t done since highschool, watercolour. “Watercolour is a lot more fl exibleand it was very freeing. Genuine work comes fromenjoying the process and with watercolour, I could be alot more spontaneous,” she explains.As her blog of recipes gained a following, anoppotunity to produce them as an illustrated cookbookarose. After months of proposals and edits withAmerican publisher Countryman Press, the book fi nallybecame a reality.Sara fi rst began her career by working nine to fi ve ingraphic design, painting in the evenings and weekendsuntil she had enough work to send out to galleries. “It’sunderrated to just sit down and do the work, but youhave to [generate work for a gallery]. I do my researchon which galleries I think will like my work; you justhave to be really proactive. It’s like cold calling and youhave to be okay with rejection.Thankfully, a gallery in Seattle liked my portraits andlatched on, which I was grateful for,” she says.``````hen Sara Zin hit a wall with her art, she washungry for meaning and hungry for goodfood. Having never learned to cook, shedecided to start a blog of recipes, painting everythingshe made in watercolours before posting them online.The Starving Artist Cookbook is the result of that year’sjourney. As informative as it is imaginative, Sara’s storyis a testament to painting what you love and not whatyou should.“When I started cooking, I was confused with whereI was. I was painting oil portraits and had gone througha lot of different styles. I loved Joe Sorren’s distortedfi gurative paintings and Mark Ryden’s cutesy work,which was more illustrative, but I just didn’t know whoI was. When I stopped thinking about styles andneeding to have something that defi ned me as anartist, that’s when I could paint naturally. And now Ihave a style,” says Sara.At the time, Sara had taken a break from thepressure and emotional intensity of painting in oil and``````CLOCKWISE FOM TOP LEFTAll watercolour on paper,size 22x22cmCrêpes with Strawberries& Cream, Tea PartySandwiches, BlueberryGalette, Chocolate WalnutCake, Simple Carbonara,Vegetable & SausageCrustless Quiche, Blueberry> Pie, Birthday Cake52 Sara Zin.indd 53 08/06/2016 15:41