A journey filled with encouragement, passion, art and family is the impetus that led Sarah Jane Roberts to create her own company, Sarah Jane Studio Art.
“My inspiration to draw and paint goes back to my early childhood. My grandmother had some land in southern Missouri, and my sister, parents and I would go down there most weekends and spend several weeks out of the summer,” she notes. “She had big, beautiful flower and vegetable gardens and orchards. We would pick fruit, flowers and veggies out of her garden. I have so many fond memories of that, and I believe my love of flowers originated there. Flowers are so feminine, elegant and delicate.”
She explains she has always drawn and her mother, Jane, saved all her pictures. Her grandmother complimented her, and she remembers thinking, “Ok this is something I love, and my family encouraged me. I fell in love with it. A lot of the fine art, painting and drawing stuck with me as I grew up.”
Another source of her inspiration was a high school teacher she had while attending Blue Springs High School. She would stay after school and paint with her and do ceramics, which continued to build her confidence.
Toward the end of high school, she began pondering her life course and her father, John, suggested graphic design as a career, as it was still creative and artistic. This led her to earn her degree in graphic design from UMKC in 2011.
She met her husband, Donnie, while working at Costco, and the connection was instant. He is now an electrical engineer.
“We married young, and I knew he was the one for me when we discovered our shared love of the Lord and strong faith in Christ,” she smiles. “In 2016, I got pregnant with our first child, Elliot, who is six now. He had some mild medical needs, so I dropped to part-time with my graphic design work. After I had my second son, Isaac, who is three now, I realized I began feeling the urge at the end of the night to get out my fine art tools and begin painting again. Isaac was four months old when I began experimenting with watercolors…I fell in love with them!”
Sarah Jane participated in Fourth Fridays events downtown Lee’s Summit last summer and now has some original work and prints in All A’Bloom Floral and Gifts downtown Lee’s Summit and in Becker + Raven, a home décor shop in Mission, Kansas.
She is instilling her love for nature in her boys. They enjoy taking walks around their neighborhood near Lake Lotawana and collecting little acorns, sticks and such. She also enjoys photography and taking landscape pictures when the family vacations.
“I see the glory of God through creation, down to the smallest little petal of a flower, it is inspiring; He is the ultimate creator. In some small way I hope my art brings glory to God, I love being able to share that with others and hope it blesses them as well,” she continues. “My belief in Christ and his redemptive work on the cross and through his resurrection is above all in my life. If I can communicate that in some way through my little area of art, that’s my goal. I’m not perfect, but I can use the artistic gift God has given me to bring glory to Him.”
Find her artwork on her website sarahjanestudiosart.com and on Instagram, as well as at All A’Bloom, Lee’s Summit, and Becker + Raven, Mission, Kansas.
