The Artful Dabber Bio
Sara Perez - The Artful Dabber
Born and bred as a Londoner, I now live a few miles from Long Melford on the Essex/Suffolk border (UK) in a small rural village. After a 22-year professional senior management career in the public sector in central London enjoying a passion solely around educating children and young people, I finally decided to take early retirement in early-2023 and pursue a more creative path.
As a left-hander I'd always been considered 'arty' and back in my school days in the 70's and 80's I achieved O level, AO level, and A level 'Art' to a high standard by the time I left school. But then life took over and I didn't do anything artistic for many years. The Covid pandemic of 2020 changed that. Plenty of time spent at home meant I needed to find a new outlet to relax and unwind after working all day.
I started by painting stones and hiding them around my little village for the local children to find, which they loved. I set up a Facebook page and images of where children had found my stones often popped up accompanied by lovely messages and lots of happy little faces. I loved it.
As I became more confident in my artistic ability over the next year I moved on to painting and selling pet portraits and bespoke designs on stones by request so I set up a little online business on social media (Roundhouse Pebbles & Crafts) that did really well and encouraged me to start displaying and selling my art at local craft fairs. I loved meeting likeminded creative people and took lots of pleasure from the compliments and smiles that customers who bought my art gave me.
Another year later and I then came across an online course that taught traditional Folk Art ('You Can Folk It') and after a few months of trepidation i finally took the plunge, signed up and started the lessons. And wow!... this was the professional introduction I didn't know I had been needing to learn about using my brushes and my paints in ways I'd never understood before to confidently create beautiful 'one-stroke' designs. I took my new Folk Art creations to the craft fairs and had so much positive feedback and introduced my little business to a new type of customer who loved this traditional style of painting. I completed the course some months later and I continue to paint and sell my Folk Art creations through my Roundhouse business now.
The transition then over to 'face and body painting' may seem tenuous to some, but to any face-painter who also has a knowledge of folk art painting techniques, it's completely obvious. I'd always watched professional face and body painting artists at events and festivals I attended with a degree of envy (nice envy) about how easy they made it look and happy it made their customers, but it never occurred to me that it was something I could make a living out of.
However, once I'd completed my Folk Art course I realised that the simple but effective one-stroke designs, the clever use of brushes and paint, the constantly used 'comma stroke' (or teardrop), the liner work, the beautiful roses and flowers, and the vibrant colours were all very familiar to me, and to combine all of these skills with a business that meant I got to work with children and young people again was just perfect. So, that was it... I'd set my mind on my next goal! I was going to retire early and be a professional face/body painter.
From mid 2022 to early 2023, I signed up to a number of online certificated courses, and booked myself onto various 'in-person' professional courses. I had found my calling. Not just the actual painting, but the people too. The absolutely huge face/body painting community is amazing!
It's international and connected and supportive in so many ways. There's no desire to outscore or out-price each other, and every desire to encourage, compliment and boost fellow artists whenever possible. That's why you'll find most quotes within the same geographical area are usually roughly the same in price. It's normally been noted or discussed and agreed between the artists as they all know that there's enough work out there to go round.
So, thats me. My journey from the rat-race to retirement , and then on to self-employment, all in a wordy nutshell.
I'd love to paint for you if you're looking for someone who gives 100% professional service and loves her job with a passion. I can't promise you that I'm the absolute best face painter in the whole world (as there's some absolutely incredibly talented artists in this humungous worldwide community), but I can promise you that you wont be disappointed, and your children/guests will have the best experience with me.
Thank you for reaching the end of my indulgent life-story ramblings. Hopefully it gives you just a little insight into who I am, and what I'm about, so that you know what you're getting if you book me.
"You've just had a brush with the Artful Dabber" - I hope you found it interesting.
All the best,
Sara