Aberdeenshire Artist Sarah Leask Captures the charm and heart of Scottish Island life

Introduce us to you and your brand! I’m Sarah and I run my business from my home studio in Aberdeen. I have been creating watercolour art with an island influence since 2017.

The business started kind of by accident when I painted my first watercolour map which was of my home, The Shetland Isles. I hadn’t long graduated and was working in a job in Aberdeen that wasn’t really what I wanted to do, so I was thinking of home. I went on to paint several more colourways before selling these as prints - to friends first, then friend’s of friends and finally through local gift shops in Lerwick, Shetland.

Since then, I have created a full range of watercolour map prints as well as home and gift products which you will find on my online shop and Etsy page. All of these designs are inspired by Scotland, with many of the beautiful islands featured heavily, as I believe they have a captivating charm, stealing the hearts of many.

How has your brand developed since you began? When I started selling wholesale, I was mostly selling prints with some cards and stationery items on the side. I attended my first trade fair in September 2018 and quickly realised that the demand from independent gift shop owners was for well-made and unique UK made gifts. From there I started researching high quality and reliable manufacturers of homeware products. I have since developed a large range of products featuring my designs, all which are made here in the UK.

How did you find out about SDX? And what made you apply to sell with us? I actually found out about it ages ago! When I first graduated and I was desperately scouring the internet for any freelance jobs or creative opportunities in Scotland to gain more experience and stumbled across what SDX were doing in Edinburgh. I didn’t get involved until later, I came across the shop in Buchannan Galleries by chance, whilst in Glasgow at my first trade show. They hadn’t long opened and had flyers everywhere saying that there was space available for artists – I applied the next day!

What would you consider to be the most challenging aspect about being a working artist?

Even after a few years of doing it, pricing is still something which is hard to get right. I put a lot of thought into my pricing -I offer a wide range of products as I want my designs to be accessible to all budgets. As an artist you are the middle man between the manufacturer and the gift shop owner. Costs of making products are not cheap, however if you want to sell them wholesale, they have to be at a desirable enough price for the shop owner to want to place an order with you. It’s difficult! There is a general formula for these things but they don’t always work in an artist's favour.

What do you consider to be your most popular product? Currently, my most popular product is my wildflower oven gloves! I launched them at the end of 2020 and since then I have been struggling to keep up with the demand for them, between Etsy orders and keeping my stockists supplied!

The design came from walking the coast of Shetland. I collected images of wildflowers I found and researched them online. People always talk about how Shetland has no trees so I wanted to highlight the wealth of the wildlife that does grow there! My design merely scratches the surface.

What piece are you the proudest of? Ahh, this is hard one. I think it’s my newest product which I am still working on behind the scenes! I am excited about them as I don’t think there are many other artists doing anything similar. I won’t say anything more at the moment!

What have you found to be the most challenging aspect to your business since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020? It’s very unpredictable! Wholesale orders were pretty much non-existent for much of lockdown with the shops closed. I focused my time and energy on getting my Etsy shop up to speed as it had been neglected for some time. Wedding stationery was also not needed by anyone but personalised gifts and commissioned art orders were! I work a day job too so financially I was okay but I know that I am one of the lucky ones. If I didn’t have that throughout lockdown, the business would have struggled. It’s definitely important to have a lot of different revenue streams in this industry.

How have you spent your time during lockdowns? Mostly at home. I developed quite a lot of new artwork which was productive! Florals are something that I have always loved but never had much chance to create much of so I decided to use the time I had to develop my style of painting them! As well as being productive, like everyone else, I did spend quite a lot of time on Netflix too...

Have you discovered any new hobbies or passions in the last year? I have re-discovered reading! I’m quite a busy person normally and don’t have a lot of time for me- time or self- care. Lockdown has meant I have had much more time to myself, alongside working and also having a small business. So much so that now that things have started opening up, I am struggling to get back in to my normal busy schedule. The luxury of having time to go for walks, runs, read, cook, bake and keep in touch with friends and family more has meant that balancing everything again has been really difficult for me.

As a result, I have started out-sourcing some of what I do, to allow myself a bit of a break. I now have someone who helps me with the marketing side of my business and I have also had professional photos done. It’s been a great help and has definitely enhanced my business!

How do you think shopping and retail may change after the pandemic ends? I think people have moved shopping more online but I am hopeful there is still a need for physical shops. You definitely don’t get the same experience online than you do in a shop, there is only so much of the item that photos can show!

How did SDX being closed affect your business? Lack of sales of course! However, SDX really helped us artists by not charging rental space for long periods of time when they were closed. This meant the impact on us artists was much less, although we were losing business that we would normally have.

What do you hope to gain from working with SDX going forward? It’s a great way of reaching new customers. The footfall you get in Buchannan Galleries and George Street is absolutely brilliant. To have my work in such a high-profile location has been a dream for a long time, the fact the SDX provide this space and opportunity to so many of us artists is really incredible.

If you could share just one piece of advice to aspiring artists/designers who want to make a living from their creative talents, what would you tell them? Take the bull by the horns and just go for it. I had very little clue what I was doing when I first started but you soon find out. Sign up to that fair you want to do! Don’t wait until you feel ready.

Tell us your favourite inspirational quote! Anything from ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox & The Horse’ by Charlie Mackesy. I was recently gifted this book and it is the cutest ever! Definitely recommend it for feel good quotes. Love this one, it’s so true:

‘What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever said?” Asked the boy. “Help,” said the horse’

A big thank you to Sarah Leask for participating in our blog. You can find her work at both our Glasgow & Edinburgh shops and new to our online shop