Sara

My name is Sara Azzam.

I grew up outside Stockholm, Sweden, and return to Josefinehill every summer to paint with my sister, Kerstin. The rest of the year I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, Tarouddant, Morocco, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

My earliest childhood memories include colors; a mauve marble, a dark green jump rope, a rose-colored bathrobe. Every time I see the exact same color, it takes me back to my happy childhood in Sweden.

As I never thought I had any artistic talents, I embarked on an education and career in science. It wasn’t until 2009 that I bought paper and watercolor and started to paint. I love watercolor because it is science in action. It is fascinating to explore what water will do to pigment when released on paper. Maybe a degree in physics would have served me better than one in genetics and biostatistics.

I love to paint because it is a way to capture colors exactly as I see them. I find that I am drawn to painting happy images, especially of childhood. I also like to paint portraits and animals.

My aim is to learn more about the interaction and dynamics of water and various pigments on different types of paper, so that in the end, my painting will seem effortless.