Posts by Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
Painting
March 12, 2020

Dynamic Palette Knife Portraits Beautifully Balance Order with Chaos

Artist Françoise Nielly creates dynamic portraits that find order in chaos. Using vibrant oil pigment and a variety of palette knives, she depicts her subjects' eyes, noses, and lips among angled strokes and layers of neon paint. At first glance, the paintings read more abstract than figurative. But thanks to Nielly's masterful handling of the palette knife, we can easily see the features emerge through the mounds of scraped-on texture—ultimately bringing their humanity into focus.

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Creative Products
March 10, 2020

Diy Kit Lets You Create Complex Marble Courses That Stick to Any Magnetic Surface

If you enjoy puzzles, then you'll want to “make way” for a brilliant kit called Makeway. The modular puzzle invites you to design your own marble obstacle course with their series of tracks, connectors, and trick pieces. Every element can be moved and arranged in any way—allowing you to create complex and exciting paths for the marbles.

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Tattoos
March 5, 2020

Mexican Tattooist “Stitches” Colorful Floral Tattoos Inspired by Her Culture

The embroidery tattoo trend has people from across the world rocking faux stitches on their skin. Tattooist Fernanda Álvarez is putting her spin on it with floral-inspired designs that mimic a few styles of embroidery. Some of her inked blossoms resemble the satin stitch used on patches while other designs feature cross-stitching and elements of thread painting. Each is done with meticulous attention to detail just like the craft it's modeled after.

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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.