Posts by Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met and Manager of My Modern Met Store. She is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art where she earned her BFA in Illustration and MFA in Illustration Practice. Sara is also an embroidery illustrator and writer living in Seattle, Washington. She runs Bear&Bean, a studio where she stitches pet portraits and other beloved creatures. She chronicles the creativity of others through her website Brown Paper Bag and newsletter, Orts. Her latest book is Threads of Treasure: How to Make, Mend, and Find Meaning Through Thread, published in 2014. Sara’s work has been recognized in Be Creative With Workbox, Embroidery Magazine, American Illustration, on Iron and Wine’s album Beast Epic, among others. When she’s not stitching or writing, Sara enjoys planning things that bring together the craft community. She is the co-founder of Camp Craftaway, a day camp for crafty adults with hands-on workshops in the Seattle area.
Resources
April 20, 2018

6 of the Best Drawing Inks for Calligraphers, Artists, and Beyond

Ink drawing is one of the oldest forms of art making, and it’s a tradition that keeps even the most casual creatives in good company. The imitable Leonardo Da Vinci, for instance, kept careful sketchbooks with ink; modern drawers still make the most of this material—there’s even Inktober, a global drawing challenge that revolves around pen and ink drawings. If you’re just getting started with ink, it can be daunting to pick what you’ll use.

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Social Cause
April 14, 2018

Interview: Artist Changes the Lives of the Homeless by Painting Their Portraits

Nearly three years ago, artist and automotive designer Brian Peterson began a project that has since taken on a life of its own. Called Faces of Santa Ana (FOSA), Peterson started with art-making and human kindness as his platform; upon moving to Santa Ana, California in 2015, he noticed that there was a large homeless population. “Something inside me was telling me to reach out to them,” he told My Modern Met at that time.

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Art
April 12, 2018

New to Drawing? Make Sure You Know These Basic Techniques Before You Start

Drawing is one of the most basic ways to exercise your creativity. Whether you’re using a pencil, pen, crayon, or even your fingers, the skills you gain from the activity translate to a bevy of different media. Learning the fundamentals is simple to do, but like all art, they require a lot of practice to master. But once you do, you’ll have the ability create images you’re truly proud of.

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Sculpture
April 3, 2018

Life-Sized Wire Animal Sculptures Look Perfectly at Home in Natural Environments

Artist Candice Bees is a woman of many creative talents. Formally trained as an illustrator, her practice has since shifted into making wire animal sculptures. But she hasn’t abandoned her drawing sensibilities; instead, she bundles the metal wire into dense forms that have an energetic quality to them, as if she scrawled them in pen and ink. Bees’ work is informed by the countless hours she’s spent around different species of animals.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.