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
August 26, 2019

Thickly Layered Landscape Paintings Are a Dreamy Escape into Tactile Fields of Flowers

Ireland-based artist Therese O’Keeffe creates paintings that make it easy to enjoy a spring day no matter the time of year. Using a brush and palette knife, she applies thick pigment to the canvas and depicts colorful fields of flowers. In O’Keeffe’s world, the sky is always a perfect shade of blue and the blossoms are bountiful. They offer a visual respite—especially if you find yourself dreaming of escaping the office and frolicking among nature.

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Funny
August 21, 2019

These Passport Photo Shoots Reveal a Bizarre Twist When You Zoom Out

Passport photos are some of the most mundane types of portraits you can have taken. They come with a lot of restrictions. You have to look straight at the camera, wear a neutral facial expression, and be positioned against a clear background without a shadow—just to name a few. Because of these constraints, it seems like it’d be impossible to add any sort of creativity to the images.

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Portrait Photography
August 20, 2019

Interview: Photographer Debunks the “Crazy Cat Lady” Stereotype with Over 300 Portraits

The “crazy cat lady” is one of modern culture’s most enduring stereotypes. Photographer BriAnne Wills knows that this idea is largely false, and she has set out to dispel the myth with her ongoing project called Girls and Their Cats (GATC). Since 2015, she has snapped portraits of women and their felines to showcase them in a positive way—as interesting ladies who love their cats.

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Painting
August 15, 2019

Surreal Paintings of Women Embody the Emotions of Nature and Inanimate Objects

Artist Sarah Joncas uses a centuries-old narrative technique as the basis for her surrealist paintings that combine realistic portraiture with decorative motifs. The Toronto-based creative was inspired by the concept of “pathetic fallacy”—a literary term that attributes human traits and emotions to inanimate objects or animals. Through 21 portraits, she creates her own twist on this time-honored device.

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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.