Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Otts.
Hi Sarah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have been a career artist for decades, but I have expanded my creative work from doing mostly just painting to writing, product creating, podcasting and speaking. I have displayed and sold artwork throughout the United States, owned my own gallery, and written two books. Recently I have developed and am leading a creative ministry platform called Growing Wild which uses art and creative, relatable language to inspire people to learn to apply biblical principles to their lives “in the wild”, and to live lives of freedom and purpose.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The growth of my career was pretty steady and consistent at first– as much as it can be. There is no how-to book for the career artist. But in recent years, I have really stepped off any sense of a beaten path there may have been to discover a truly purposeful road of my own. I found myself making a way towards a line of work that truly lets me connect with people in creative and fulfilling ways that matter. It’s become so much more than offering pretty art for the walls. While I hope to keep doing that too, what I do now is wildly fulfilling and feels significant in an eternal kind of way; painting pictures of life to the fullest.
This has been a bit of a challenge, although exciting too. There has been great sacrifice, and at times, having to press on against the grain- like being misunderstood while I follow what I knew to be the truest path forward even when others around me don’t understand or agree. And honestly, even I wasn’t all that clear on what I was clear at times, but I just kept taking the next prayerful steps forward. I have had to drum up courage I didn’t know I could had, and trust blindly.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am inspired to see a sense of spirituality in the wild, natural world. I wrote a book called Looking Up, a compilation of my series of paintings with the same title and the sentiments behind them. My work is a colorful celebration of life– an inspiration for other to develop an admiration for the beauty of everyday life. This admiration seems to open a window to a true awareness of spirituality beyond religion alone– it goes into the wild with us. Nature introduced me to the one behind all of this beauty and wonder.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sarahotts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah_otts_artist?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== ,
