Rising Stars: Meet Lindsey Saoirse of Estes Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Saoirse.

Lindsey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve always been fascinated by art in all forms – be it photography, music, drawing, knitting, writing. I picked up my first camera when I was 8 years old and specifically recall playing with the panorama feature to get a different perspective through the lens. That mindset carried over into pretty much every art form I tried after that. I spent most of my life behind the lens of a camera but over time, felt the need to branch out. I picked up pour painting back in 2019 and since then, have been experimenting with different mediums. Over the years I’ve played with watercolor painting, oil pastel drawing, and even nalbinding – which is one of the oldest forms of knitting, coming from Scandinavia. Last year I also started writing a book series and got a Cricut and started playing with creating my own designs for apparel through my business, Storybound. Currently, my focus is on wood burned images, charcoal sketches, and ink drawings, and I am also learning how to tattoo.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, of course it hasn’t been a smooth road. It never is. But I’m a firm believer that the struggles are what give us the most power in the creative community. It’s an unfortunate way to gain experience, but that is where the best and most moving pieces of work comes from.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I tend to bounce around between different mediums. This actually helps me stay in the game because I have a lot of different ideas when it comes to creation of a piece, and certain ideas for me require different mediums. If I don’t bounce around a little, I tend to get stagnant and stop creating. Having different mediums to work with keeps me in a flow state with my art.

My favorite medium that I’ve ever played with overall is charcoal. I love being able to create the depth in the shadows and shading. I tend to focus on realism when I draw with charcoal. A lot of my charcoal drawings feature women in different emotional states and fantastical scenes. The images I’ve created with this medium are some of my most proud works.

Ink drawing is a form that I turn to when I sometimes find myself at a lack for inspiration. I focus a lot on flow with this medium and do a lot of line work and circular movement. Ink drawing tends to keep the creative wheels moving.

And finally, wood burning is a fairly new medium that I’ve picked up. I started wood burning after talking to a mentor of mine about pursuing tattooing. He explained how wood burning is similar to how your machine moves on skin, but once I picked up the machine, I fell in love with the craft itself. I’ve done a lot of personal requests with this and work a lot with skulls and mushrooms as my main inspiration for imagery.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I have children that are just starting out on their artistic journey, and one thing we tell them a lot is to just make bad art. Make bad art, let it sit for a little bit and see the spaces where you can improve. Try not to compare your art to others, only to the art you’ve already created. Little by little, if you can keep going, you’ll see how you’re improving. The only way to make a body of work is to make a body of work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lindseysaoirseart.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/saoirses.side.quests
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindseysaoirseart
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@lindsey.saoirse.art

Image Credits
All images are original artwork by Lindsey Saoirse and were shot by Lindsey Saoirse.