Using art as means of understanding and sharing her life story, artist Sara Slee Brown combines digital photography and collage. Visit her website to see more of her work.
![“Bohicket Creek Diner” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 27”by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/BohicketCreekDiner.jpg)
“Bohicket Creek Diner” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 27”
It has taken me a lifetime to gather my wits, time, and experience, put them together, and finally express myself through my artwork.
![“Lace” Collage on Canvas, 27” x 36” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lace.jpg)
“Lace” Collage on Canvas, 27” x 36”
As a child, student, young wife and mother I focused on the needs of others and doing what was expected of me. I have no rebellious streak but I do have artistic talent and a deep need to express myself through it. Over the years this need had idled while others have been fulfilled.
![“College Street Diner” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 27” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/College-Street-Diner.jpg)
“College Street Diner” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 27”
I have raised two children, mostly single-handedly, while my husband pursued his calling in medicine. Choices and promises that I made as a young woman proved to be extremely difficult to honor at times. The unexpected consequences of commitments and choices can be easy or difficult to handle.
![“Back Porch” Collage on Canvas, 20” x 20” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Back_Porch.jpg)
“Back Porch” Collage on Canvas, 20” x 20”
The unknown elements are always the most challenging to understand and resolve. Just as the kids were on their own and I began to think about creating some art, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The treatment for this included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for the next year. It was a difficult, scary time.
![“Night Call” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 27” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Night-Call.jpg)
“Night Call” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 27”
Ten years ago, I retired as graphic designer for the public library and began to seriously pursue my dream of a career as an artist. As an undergraduate and graduate student in painting, I had been trained in the traditional methods and my early work had been oil on canvas.
![“October Night” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 48” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/October-Night.jpg)
“October Night” Collage on Canvas, 36” x 48”
After working as a digital graphic designer at the library, I developed methods for combining and layering digital images in my computer with the eye and sensitivity of an oil painter. I developed my own method for constructing my current work that I call:
LāDi: Layered Digital Imaging.
- Digital photographs are combined, layered and edited in the computer to produce a design
- The design is printed onto archival paper using an inkjet printer.
- The paper images are cut and glued onto the canvas or wood.
- The finished collage is coated by hand with four to five coats of archival acrylic varnish to create a lustrous finish which protects the paper from water, dirt and UV light.
![“Moon Rise Diner” Collage on Canvas, 48” x 36” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Moon-Rise-Diner.jpg)
“Moon Rise Diner” Collage on Canvas, 48” x 36”
My work explores choices and promises that we make in life. It is an exercise in exploring the known versus the unknown; patience, waiting; the fear and excitement of thresholds and transitions.
![“Shem Creek” Collage on Canvas, 48” x 36” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Shem-Creek.jpg)
“Shem Creek” Collage on Canvas, 48” x 36”
The work begins with something familiar and real. This represents the known. Over, around and through this foundation I add other images or fragments of images that are not so easily identified.
![“Tangerine” Collage on Canvas, 20” x 20” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Tangerine.jpg)
“Tangerine” Collage on Canvas, 20” x 20”
When combined with the familiar, they create a new reality which may not be as easily understood but nevertheless exists—a new perspective.
![“River Gothic” Collage on Canvas, 20” x 20” by artist Sara Slee Brown. See her portfolio by visiting www.ArtsyShark.com](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/River-Gothic.jpg)
“River Gothic” Collage on Canvas, 20” x 20”
The comfort of the familiar combined with the confusion of the unfamiliar creates a tension and energy that is an expression of my experience in the world. My focus is the fear and excitement of life’s thresholds and transitions.
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