**This transcript was generated using AI and was not professionally edited. Please excuse any errors.*
Gianna Andrews 00:00
Hey guys, welcome to another Studio Sundays I am your host, Gianna Andrews and we are hanging out in my art studio. This last week I was working on a desert inspired piece that I'm really excited to show you it's almost ready. But when I wasn't painting this week, I was talking to really interesting people. One of them was named Sarah Robbins. Sarah is our Studio Sunday spotlight of the week. Sarah is an illustrator and muralist and has an impressive portfolio of work all around the Seattle area and across the nation. Her business is doing so well that she now even employs her husband, she finds the inspiration for her murals and her work through working with clients that have a cause. She wants to make the world a better place. And she's just a really great human. I really enjoyed connecting with her. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. And with that, let's dive into it. Sarah, welcome to Studio Sundays. Thank you for being here.
Sarah Robbins 01:03
Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited.
Gianna Andrews 01:05
Okay, so where are you based right now.
Sarah Robbins 01:07
I'm in Seattle, West Seattle. But I've only been here since 2015. So almost a decade came from the east coast. So I've kind of been all over the place a little bit.
Gianna Andrews 01:19
Okay, so what brought you out to Seattle?
Sarah Robbins 01:22
That's a complicated question. So I grew up in upstate New York, and then went to art school down in Washington, DC. And then, including school years, I spent, like, probably eight or nine years there. And then I mean, I love the city. Don't get me wrong, but like, as far as art goes, it got really stuffy really quickly, like everyone's wearing suits. And it's just like, it's not what you do. It's who you know. And I just got, like, bombarded with DC politics. So because of that, I was kind of looking for any excuse to leave. And the top cities I had on my list to move to or Seattle, obviously. There's a small town in Virginia that I never thought I'd want to live in Virginia, because of the heat, but it's just really cute. It's like a little college town. And I could see myself there. Or Philly was another one. And then there was an artist's position that opened up in Bellevue, outside of Seattle, and I was like, oh my god, let's try for this. And I got it. They moved me across the country. I had never even visited Seattle or the Pacific Northwest. So it was kind of a big leap of faith, but it was the best decision ever.
Gianna Andrews 02:42
Totally. And was the job that you got so you said there's an art position and Bellevue was who was that working for?
Sarah Robbins 02:48
It was actually I was they hired me to be the lead artists for Whole Foods. So it was like way back pre Amazon pre anything. And so we built the Bellevue location was it's their flagship store for Pacific Northwest so like, I was able to do really cool things like oh my god, my first week, we like drove a Jeep into the store and made like this big outdoor camping display. Elysian Brewing brought in one of their like big metal fermenters and I got to like letter and draw all over that get to build build thing, like it was just a really cool job. It gave me a lot of confidence in thinking outside the box and kind of like getting creative with and getting kind of weird with things. And I had a team of artists under me too, which was cool but long story short then Amazon bought Whole Foods Yeah, completely clean house like company wide so all artists lost their job, which at the time sucks because I was here I think it was only like four months in I had been here so I was still like very new and very green. But that was never my it sounds horrible to say but like I kind of used that job as a way to move across the country. It was never like my end goal. So it was really nice. That's what I took the jump into full time for myself. Okay, new city I have no clients I have no I don't know anyone like that was the tough part is like if that had happened to me in DC, I would have at least had like a little pool of community to pull from were here. I was like, Oh my God, I don't know anything.
Gianna Andrews 04:42
Did you move completely alone?
Sarah Robbins 04:45
No, now he's my husband, but at the time my boyfriend was with me. Like he had to find work out here too. We moved for my job. So then it was just like, oh my god, we have no income right now. Yeah, I mean, it worked out. But it was scary.
Gianna Andrews 04:58
So you went us College in DC for fine art or was it art and illustration?
Sarah Robbins 05:03
I went to the Corcoran College of Art Design, which is a teeny tiny school right next to the White House. And it's actually the basement of a gallery. So like my graduating class was 55 people or something like it was very small. It was a little conceptual art school. My degrees in fine art they didn't have like, they weren't even big enough to have an illustration program. But you could do on how to weld we didn't furniture building we did mold making we did ceramics, like photography, everything. So it was really cool. If at that size, you can kind of dip in everything and just get like a well rounded, I don't know, base of knowledge.
Gianna Andrews 05:44
Okay, so it gives it's kind of seems like that's your skill set to is like, just from the research I did about you and also your work. It's like you're very well rounded. You can do illustration, you can do murals, you've got this job at Whole Foods, and you were able to not only create installations and like work with other artists, but also actually do the lettering and create the art. And it sounds like your College helped that as well. So I want to go back to like the early days a little bit. Um, you said you grew up in upstate New York. Were you a creative child? Were your parents creative? What was your childhood, like in harboring creativity? Or maybe it didn't harbor any.
Sarah Robbins 06:22
There is a little bit of creativity in my family. My aunt is the art director for the Holocaust Museum. So she's probably the artist, designer, artist, family member. I have like my mom was a special ed teacher her whole life. Actually, now that she's retired, she's getting into glass. So I do think she has that creative gene in her but it was like, it wasn't until she was like in her 60s That that actually came out. But for me, yeah, I've been making stuff since I was a kid. I remember. Like I had this pond a little bit of a tomboy. I had this pond in my backyard. And I would go out there and I'd like dig up the bottom of the pond because there'd be clay. And it's just this like natural clay that was in my backyard. And I like make things out of it. I used to like to make books, I would make like I still have this. There's a book somewhere that I have from I was like six and I made one that was all about bugs. Really and outdoors if you can't tell. But yeah, I kind of just always made things and I went through like phases. Sometimes it'd be drawing, sometimes it would be like building things. But it was just kind of always ingrained in me. And I thought it was kind of weird that my friends didn't have that skill or that that interest as much.
Gianna Andrews 07:32
Were you an only child?
Sarah Robbins 07:33
No, I have an older brother. He's not artistic at all. Actually, that's not true.
Gianna Andrews 07:37
He's a chef. Okay, that's a different type of artistic.
Sarah Robbins 07:40
Creative adjacent. Yeah, he's really good. But as far as like, art, yeah.
Gianna Andrews 07:45
We're your parents supportive when you decided to go to art school for college.
Sarah Robbins 07:52
My mom was my dad. My dad's a tough subjects. He was a photographer, but he did medical photography. And he did a little bit of fine art photography, just as a hobby. But he did not, he was very much like, you shouldn't do this. Or if you do want to go to art school, go to a state school, because then you can get a liberal arts degree and have something to fall back on. And I wasn't having that I wanted, like a traditional art school education. And luckily, my mom supported me totally like the rest of my family did. It worked out for the best. I wouldn't trade that education. I mean, I graduated with $100,000 in student debt, like it was a huge ordeal. Yeah. And I wouldn't trade it for the world. Because it was like the best time of my life. It made me into a real human. And so my dad was wrong.
Gianna Andrews 08:47
Yeah, I mean, sometimes I think our parents just want to, like, protect us, and especially that generation of like, there just were less possibilities and things were much more by the book during that time. So I think it may be more comes out of like, to like a fear or wanting you to, like, have a good life and like to protect you. I mean, I experienced a similar thing with my parents to where it's like, there was this phase when I was like, I'm going to be an artist where my dad's like, what are you doing like chill? But now he's on board you know, they come around.
Sarah Robbins 09:18
And I get it I guess if I have a kid I'd be very hesitant with that because it's hard to prove or at that point it was hard to prove to my dad especially like, like the people who are successful with art degrees are the ones that work really hard for it. And it was hard to prove to him how strongly I felt and how I would kind of do anything to become a success like failure was not an option because of the money that went into it. And I had moved cities and like it was just a big ordeal where I didn't want that to mean nothing. So I think that kind of as much as obviously I wanted him to support me. It was kind of this little push of Like, Oh, I need to prove him wrong. And it made me into more of a hard worker and kind of like a go-getter.
Gianna Andrews 10:05
So did you ever consider like you're in DC, I'm sure of a fine art scene, there's pretty like you were saying people are wearing suits, like it's kind of a more of a bureaucracy, and you kind of found your way to murals, do you think do you attribute like the murals and illustration avenue that you're pursuing now to getting that job at Whole Foods and then ending up out in the Pacific Northwest and, and kind of like developing that or before you moved? Did you know that that's what you wanted to do?
Sarah Robbins 10:33
Kind of a little bit of both. I always liked the like permanence of murals like an even in high school, like I didn't ever like painting on canvases, because it felt, I don't know, it just didn't feel like me, like I would paint on, I would go to Home Depot and get like the like unfinished slab wooden doors. And so if that those were like seven feet wide, I guess at that point, because you're painting them in a landscape form. But like huge, kind of like more substantial things to paint on. So like panels, and then walls, my high school bedroom was a rotating canvas, I had maybe four or five murals painted on there. I don't know how my mom's gonna sell that house, because it's just I think I left her with ones that are like paint splatters, so she'd have to like sand down the walls. It's gonna be a whole thing. But yeah, I did experiment on walls. I didn't do any murals. Oh, that's not true. I did a couple murals in DC, but nothing major. It was just kind of a way to get my feet wet, and then got more into it out in Seattle. I think I just like the scale. And I like the process of them. And they feel a little more substantial, like something that's more permanent than just artwork. So I kind of fell into it naturally.
Gianna Andrews 11:55
I mean, that's the best way. It's like you're just more drawn to, to that avenue. And so did so how'd you really paint it? Did you paint a mural when you were working for Whole Foods? Or did that come about? After? Let's kind of dive into like, what was that transition? So Amazon bought Whole Foods, you lost your job, a bunch of artists lost their job. And you found you became self employed at that time and basically began pursuing art, what was that transition? Like? And how did you navigate that? As far as also just getting clients and all that?
Sarah Robbins 12:28
I'm extremely lucky with that part of my career, because well, let me go back to answer your question. I did one mural for Whole Foods. And it was fairly small. It was back in DC. It was just they needed a wall filled. And I suggested it and they said yes. But I didn't really have that was almost more illustration, practice daily practice than to kind of the large scale stuff. So then when we lost our jobs, I kind of because I was so scared, I'm like, Oh, my God, what do I do? I treated it like, I still had a job. And I got up. And I did, I worked on personal projects. I wrote, I think there was like 10 total of I wrote handmade cards to a couple organizations, and small businesses around the city that I thought may be a good fit. And it wasn't, they were like coffee shops. There's like a barbecue place. A cupcake shop that actually is still one of my main clients today. So I wrote 10 cards. And I think I got four responses, and four jobs out of them, which is a crazy return. I didn't It's crazy. And then Seattle's very small town feeling. So word of mouth spread. I did little things, I kept social media going just to kind of like that's where people found me. Keep active on there. And then I kind of just kept going and kept going and kept going. And, you know, you'd have to take on jobs at that point that you wouldn't take on today just to pay the bills. But I got by for a couple years. And then I started to gain some traction. And I'm lucky to say that I throughout that whole time, I never didn't have a job I'd never didn't have a project to work on. So I think I'm the exception to a lot of the other experiences that I've heard similar experiences from artists, but if you treat it like it's your job, even if it's not at that time, that mindset, I think really goes a long way and just kind of like keeping the pattern going, keeping the routine going.
Gianna Andrews 14:46
Yeah, I think that's really valuable advice. And I remember especially when I was like floundering like just having graduated college and going into trying to figure out how to become An artist. Somebody said to me, you just need to start treating this like your job because you can sit around all day being like, nobody's emailing me, I'm not getting any clients, all these things and like, if you're not actively putting in the work, like, you're not really set up for when those clients do come like how can you make yourself as prepared as possible for like your success?
Sarah Robbins 15:26
Yes. In the future, I was also struggling with, with the transition between kind of more corporate in house work to my own stuff, like, what is my style even. So even if it was working on personal projects, it was practicing style practicing application technique, like all of the things that kind of like you said, it's setting me up to be professional and look have like a nice end results, even though it may be like my first or second job out of a corporate environment.
Gianna Andrews 16:00
And what year was that? How long have you been full time?
Sarah Robbins 16:04
2018? So eight? Eight years? Nine years?
Gianna Andrews 16:08
Yeah. Going on a decade.
Sarah Robbins 16:10
It's crazy. Yeah.
Gianna Andrews 16:11
So awesome. Yeah.
Sarah Robbins 16:13
It's fun. Dream job. Totally.
Gianna Andrews 16:16
And so you you do a mix of illustrations and murals? Are your illustrations typically done in procreate? Or how are you doing the work that's not getting blown up onto a wall? What's your process like with that?
Sarah Robbins 16:31
Um, yeah, I love procreate. Um, I've been using that forever since it came out. I know there's other programs out there that are competing, but I'm just so like, I'm a creature of habit and I'm so comfortable with procreate. That's my go to if something does need to be blown up bigger than procreate can handle. Adobe just came out with that newest one, I guess in the past couple years fresco? Yeah. And that one I use to vectorize stuff. And I know you can do pixel art in that too. But I haven't really played around with that just because I'm a lover of procreate. But those are the two main ones. Occasionally. Italy, I have the one called AstroPad. Because I can never, I don't understand when people can draw on a tablet while looking at a screen. Oh, yeah, not I can't do it. So I got AstroPad. Because I can draw like it just mirrors my computer screen. And I can actually draw in Photoshop or Illustrator. But on surface. So those are my main three. It depends on you know, every project is different. It depends on what kind of deliverables they need. But I really don't stray from those for drawing.
Gianna Andrews 17:47
Yeah. And you've done some really big walls, which are so impressive and beautiful, by the way. Thank you. How do you go about I think everybody kind of has a different technique, there's different techniques. How do you go about getting the idea up onto the wall for painting? Are you free handing it gridding? What's your process like with big wall painting.
Sarah Robbins 18:07
My preference is always project it just because it saves so much time. So that's primarily what we're going forward upfront. If that's not possible, whether it's like too big, or I did one this summer that it was like columns under a freeway. So I'm not gonna like project on a rounded surface because it would get warped. So I kind of get creative when projecting is not an option for those columns. For example, I did grid it into four chunks. And then the beauty of my style is usually it's so organic, that I can freehand and kind of tweak instead of having everything and needing to be very specific and very technical. save some time, it's nice. And I purposely design because I'm like, Oh, I'm not gonna be able project this. Let's give like let's build in some flexibility here. So that's been been really nice with the free handing. If something does have to be specific. I usually do a grid. I like the doodle method. I'm sure everyone talks about that one. But there's so many times that I'm not painting the background where that gets in the way because
Gianna Andrews 19:32
Yeah, you have to ask for like a full fledge painted surface. Yeah.
Sarah Robbins 19:36
So I kind of use all the tricks. It just depends on what kind of wall I'm painting. The weirdest one. There's one up in Ballard here. That's like it's two sides of an apartment building. way like that was like 100 feet in the air, but it's corrugated metal.
Gianna Andrews 19:54
Oh my god.
Sarah Robbins 19:56
That sounds insane. Just even projecting that alone. was a whole ordeal.
Gianna Andrews 20:02
And then you can blame that. How do you even project 100 feet in the air?
Sarah Robbins 20:06
Well, I'm lucky enough to have a friend whose husband is the guy that, like if you go to a concert, he's the guy that does the show behind the band. So like, he's really good at high quality, huge projections, he has all the equipment to make it bright enough to see. So I hired him for a night and we sit out there in the cold and did it. If he wasn't, if I didn't know him, honestly, I don't know how I would have gotten that up on the wall. Yeah, it's been a lot of trial and error. But that one was tough, because it's like you have to, it's corrugated, you have to project only on the surface, and then freehand all the parts inside. And it just got to get creative.
Gianna Andrews 20:53
Yeah, I love it. Well, it seems like you, you're good at like improvising in those moments when you need to, which is really important, especially when being an artist because I feel like no matter what, when you're working on these big projects, there's always going to be some variable that pops up that you weren't expecting. And so it's just figuring out how to deal with that on the fly.
Sarah Robbins 21:12
I'm a planner, because I know like you said, Something's going to happen that I'm not accounting for. So having all the other stuff well thought out and being prepared, it helps tremendously. In the long run. Yeah.
Gianna Andrews 21:24
And then what percentage of your work are you doing? Like, you do a lot of client work, you do a lot of public art, how much percentage is like, kind of for you, or your own brand? Because they see you sell prints on your website and those types of things? Yeah,
Sarah Robbins 21:41
Not as much as I'd like, if I'm being perfectly honest. There are like I have a slew of projects in my head, and things that I'd like to do for myself. People ask me for more prints all the time, and I genuinely want to do them. And I have them stored in my head. The client work is insane. I do. Yes, I shouldn't complain.
Gianna Andrews 22:11
It's great to be busy. But also I hear you where it's like you have to maintain that level of staying in touch with your own creative self.
Sarah Robbins 22:17
Totally. Yeah. And I've you know, I've never been one of those artists who like, if someone's like, hey, come do whatever you want. Like that makes me nervous. I don't want to actually do that, because I like having some kind of boundary or parameters to start from, because then it's like solving a puzzle instead of like, oh, whatever, we don't care, just come do whatever. Yeah, I like. I think that's why I also do client work more because I automatically start with those kinds of parameters. And I don't have to like if I'm doing personal work, I set them for myself. Or like, I'm doing only this size, or I'm doing this number of series, or I'm doing this kind of print more, it's not as much of a free for all, as a lot of other artists do in their personal work. But having said that, yes, I would like to expand a little more, because that's also how you get to do your own personal style. And the things you really care about for the client's work is you see, they see what you're making for yourself. And they're like, oh, man, I want that. So I don't know, I've said this for like four years now. Like, this is the year I'm gonna really do some personal work, but we'll see.
Gianna Andrews 23:33
Yeah, well, it's different too. Because it's like with client work, you kind of know you're getting paid. Like, it's not that your fans aren't gonna buy your personal work, but it's just, I imagine once you're in that groove of, from client projects to client projects. It's like, obviously easier to not easier, but just like, anyone would take that work before potentially like spending that it's hard to like, say no and spend that time on your own. Yes. On your own work. How do you add meaning and inspiration to your art?
Sarah Robbins 24:05
Oh, I do like everything. I feel like I need everything to be meaningful. But that is on a huge scale. Oh, that's tough, because there's so many ways I could attack this. Um, okay. So yeah, I think if it's public art, if it's depending on what kind of organization I'm working with, they will bring some meaning themselves. So like, just for an example, did this one last summer, and it was an installation in this, it's this new place out in Redmond. It's like three buildings. Above that, like most of the buildings, is just affordable housing. But then on the bottom floor it's like office spaces for there's like 25 or 40 Come And he's that work out of the space. And it's all kinds of social cause organizations and so like you can as a resident or not as a resident as a civilian, just anyone can walk in and just say, Hey, I'm really struggling with this, it could be, oh my god, anything. Mental health, it could be I can't pay my rent, it can be like, there's a language barrier that I can't get through, they need something, literally any problem they have, they can walk in and be pointed in the direction of an organization that can help them. It's amazing. That's really cool. And so I did like a lobby installation for them. And so for that type of art, the meaning is ingrained, because the work that they do, all of those organizations do, are meaningful on their own. And so my job was to, like, I did a lot of research, I listened. I listened more than I thought, or it wasn't more my ideas, it was like, pulling out of listening sessions of like, bits of information. And my job was to come in, and kind of illustrate a concept that embodied this whole big infrastructure of social organizations turned out really cool, they were happy with it, I was happy with it, I ended up doing like a Pacific Northwest nurse log. So it's like the logs that fall in the forest. And then there, they are the support system for all these little seedlings that grow. Just one big metaphor. But I think that's where the meaning comes from, like, I listened for it. I don't necessarily always create it myself, because then it feels like it's not feel like it's my story when it shouldn't be. Yeah.
Gianna Andrews 26:58
Well, these projects you're working on, too, are really like these collaborations, and you're kind of the channel or the vessel that's helping tell this cause and so like, that's your, what you're like, so good at is like adding beauty and helping visually tell the story that that, like kind of these organizations don't necessarily have that skill set. So that's where you come in, and why you're so busy and crushing it.
Sarah Robbins 27:25
Thank you. Yeah. It's cool. I like being that. I like having that role for people. Because yeah, they struggle. They know what they're doing. But they struggle to visualize it a lot of times, and it takes someone who is not involved at all and has no, you know, nothing in that game, to just like, come in and see it and make it Oh, yeah.
Gianna Andrews 27:48
So you're giving your, you know, all this time to these organizations and your, your skill set, what brings you joy outside of your work, and your creative. I mean, obviously, as creatives I know, like, our art has to bring us joy, in order for it to work. But what do you like to do? Or what are some of your hobbies that don't have to do with painting.
Sarah Robbins 28:12
I love taking day trips around Seattle. There's just so much to see, you can drive a couple hours in any direction and be in a completely different environment. So sometimes I do need just a hard break where I'm like, let's go out to Whidbey Island or let's go up to down to Rainier like anything like that. Usually nature based. And then sometimes, sometimes I just need to like sit on the couch and watch garbage TV. I feel that I just got to zone out for a little bit. I struggled with burnout a lot, a couple like starting two years ago into last year. You know, I can't always like take a trip or do like a real break where that was like a little mini break. It was just like a turn off my brain kind of day. And that helps get through the like, just constant being bogged down with everything. And then I like to garden. Really, I love it. Just like being outside, getting my hands dirty again, like it's a zoning out thing where I'm not thinking of work. Anything that can kind of get me in that headspace is kind of what I gravitate towards.
Gianna Andrews 29:32
So you said you were struggling with burnout? Do you feel like you've gotten maintained now a bit more of a balance for yourself? Or what does that balance look like? Well,
Sarah Robbins 29:44
I am still struggling with it just because I did all the tricks man. I raised my prices. I like I did all the tricks and nothing really worked as significantly as I was expecting. Definitely my trajectory is coming out of burnout. I don't feel how I did. A couple of years ago. And I'm also valuing, like, I think, kind of how we talked about when you first start out on your own, that hustle has to be there. That's how you get your traction, that's how you become successful. But then kind of once you've gained that momentum, it doesn't necessarily have to keep up at that speed. And I struggled with that a lot, because I felt like if I wasn't working or wasn't doing something, it was wrong. And I was wasting my time. And so like forcing myself to have a mindset shift helped a lot. Still struggling with that, but getting there. And then I started saying no to projects, you know, it was years, and I would say yes to everything, because I needed to pay all my bills. But when something wasn't a good fit, or they didn't have the budget, I needed to get it done. I started to say no, and that or point them in the direction of another artists like something that I'm not just like closing a door, I'm kind of just like diverting, that really helped a lot too, even though it felt weird in the beginning.
Gianna Andrews 31:05
Yeah, saying no is huge. And I think I've heard that from a lot of other artists I've talked to is that in the beginning, you're just like hustling, you feel like, if you don't work for one hour of one day, then like, it's all gonna go away. And it is really important to build that foundation, like you just have to work harder than like, maybe the average person working a job because you're literally starting to build this business from nothing. But longevity wise, and in order to last there does need to be this transition to where you can like, enjoy that work life balance, that's something I've struggled with too. And I've had to find myself and just take time off. And I think it's something we can all relate to. And I was going to ask but you already you already said like saying no is so huge and and I think it's like almost stepping out of like that scarcity mindset and into like, another projects gonna come even if I say no to this one, and like only saying yes to the things that feel really aligned.
Sarah Robbins 32:03
Yeah, it took a while. Because if I said no to something, or if I really believed that Oh, and other projects coming along, that took a while because I was like, Maybe I'm just having a good year. Maybe it's just a fluke. But then when that consistently happens year after year after year, and you see that you're taking on larger work with bigger budgets and being able to take on more meaningful work. And really, like put your heart into the big stuff instead of some of the smaller jobs that I would take on in 2015. When you see that trajectory, kind of just like consistently go up. I mean, it took years for me to trust it. And now I could probably say this year, possibly maybe last year were the first years that I actually did trust it. My husband left his job last year, and he works for me now. Which is
Gianna Andrews 33:01
Crazy. God Heck yeah. We love that.
Sarah Robbins 33:04
It's a big. I don't want to say a gamble. Because He's great. He's also a designer, but um, you know, we have one income now. Yeah, so the pressure still in business? Yeah, but I feel I still feel okay about it. I trust it. So what
Gianna Andrews 33:23
Is he doing it for you?
Sarah Robbins 33:26
It's kind of sad, because he's like, the best designer I know. But he got severely burnt out. To the point where like, I don't know if I should even be saying this on podcast, but um, stress work stress, gave him type one diabetes in his 30s. So like, hard, it just was like he was in a bad place. And so it's sad, because he's so freaking talented. And all he's doing for me is like painting backgrounds. Like carrying my supplies.
Gianna Andrews 34:01
You gotta have an assistant, though. I mean, like, you're doing big walls, and you're, you're the scale of what you're doing is huge. And like, if you're just showing up alone, I like, that wouldn't be possible. You have to have thought.
Sarah Robbins 34:14
Yeah totally. And I totally value him. And he's really good at, like, kind of all I wanted for years while I was on my own is to have someone as a sounding board someone to talk through ideas with. And that's kind of where he shines, where if it comes down to execution. I mean, he's fine. He's, he's a good painter. But like you said, he's just kind of an assistant in that aspect where if I'm struggling with a concept or figuring out like I'm doing a project right now, that's really strange with the city and it's like electrical vehicle chargers, and there's just like so many rules involved in parameters. Like I don't, I don't even know what to do, even though they're letting me do Do whatever I want. Just having another person there daily to talk through ideas. Like, look through research, just having kind of like a studio mate helps tremendously. So that's actually where I valued him the most to
Gianna Andrews 35:16
come up with all that on your own, like, once a business like, you know, once your art business gets to a certain point, it's impossible to do alone. And so, yeah, it does so much help, like, I value my partner, Cory a lot, too. And like, I'm constantly bouncing ideas off him, and he's running his own business, but like, I need that in order to, like, sanely make decisions sometimes, like just the decision making part of like, What do I tell this client? Or, you know, like, that's, that's really hard. And it takes a certain skill set?
Sarah Robbins 35:48
Yeah, he's been great. It's been a year and a half now. And yeah, everyone's like, Oh, this is gonna make or break your relationship. But it's been, it's been good so far. So he'll be my permanent assistant moving forward.
Gianna Andrews 36:03
That's amazing. Well, you you're building a life together. And it's so much better than because you both are, like, equally invested. And sometimes when you hire people that aren't, you know, necessarily affiliated, like, no one's gonna work as hard as you are. But it seems like when it's a couple, and it's teamwork, like you're both fully invested. So that's really awesome. What can we expect to see from you in the future? What are you excited about that's coming up in this next year.
Sarah Robbins 36:29
I think overall, the two things that are on my mind are playing around with some style a little more. I struggled in the past with like, not being loose enough. And I don't think my like clean lines, like that type of style will ever change. But just like the subject matter of loosening up a little bit of meat being a little more gestural, I'm making like an effort to do that a little more. It's one of those things where like, I'm not confident in it yet where I design it, and then I like it in the moment, but then I look at it the next day, and I'm like, Oh, this looks wrong, or this looks bad. So trying to trust myself a little more loosen up. And then also making a conscious effort to work and partner more with the socially driven organizations. I really love that work. It's been probably three or four years of continuous partnerships with some of them, and it's just always the most rewarding. So I think kind of developing that client base a little more, though, that's, that's what I'm focusing on a lot. I partnered with Seattle, Kraken, and it's a program they have that they put artists, like we get to design a warm up Jersey, and then they auction off the jersey for charity. And I'm last in the series for the season. So my night isn't until April. But um, I really like that partnership and exciting.
Gianna Andrews 38:01
That's big. That's the hockey team for Seattle. For people that don't know
Sarah Robbins 38:06
I get to ride. I'm going to be like seven and a half months pregnant riding as Zamboni in April. Wow.
Gianna Andrews 38:12
So you're expecting that's you have a lot coming up? Yeah, it’s gonna be a big year.
Sarah Robbins 38:20
Zamboni ride I keep thinking about because I'm like, I'm gonna be massive and I'm gonna be on the jumbo screen and it's gonna be hilarious, but also embarrassing.
Gianna Andrews 38:31
It's gonna be amazing. You're gonna look great. So does the night of like your night with the Kraken your jerseys feature that you've created. You've designed and then you're writing a Zamboni what else goes into that night? Yeah,
Sarah Robbins 38:43
So we made there's the jersey and then they all have the I don't know if you've been to the arena, but um, all of the graphics and the screens they use my designs for so I made them some assets to be able to like plug in there. It's almost like a night of rebranding, where it's just my design my work today and they're selling huge, very cool. I was excited because I really like hockey. But yeah, like they'll sell merch night of where everyone can get something. The actual jerseys would is auctioned off. But the whole arena kind of turns into my designs for a night and it's just gonna be so cool.
Gianna Andrews 39:25
Oh my gosh, your designs like huge scale, larger than life. That's gonna be amazing.
Sarah Robbins 39:31
I'm so excited. You projected down onto the ice, which is my God. It's a big deal. I'm very excited to see it.
Gianna Andrews 39:38
It's been so interesting. Just hearing your story and hearing about, like how you've gone from upstate New York to where you are now. You're going to be projected in the Kraken arena. What's the arena called? I don't even know. Climate pledge arena climate pledge arena. Okay, so yeah, you're crushing it. I'm wishing you the best with all of your future endeavors. This year with the new baby.
Sarah Robbins 40:01
That's exciting. Yes. Terrifying, exciting. But yeah, it
Gianna Andrews 40:06
It's a whole new chapter for sure.
Sarah Robbins 40:09
I think it'll be interesting being an artist mom. Mm hmm. That's gonna work.
Gianna Andrews 40:15
They're out there though. And they're crushing it so you can do it. Yeah, be great. Alright, Sarah, well keep in touch. And thank you so much for coming on today.
Sarah Robbins 40:26
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. This was fun.