Artist Feature: Sandy
As we burst into the New Year with fireworks, our floating lanterns are softly illuminating another Skip Sketch Studio artist. We are delighted to feature Sandy this month, who describes her art as “a comfort in the dark-and a way of bringing a spark back to myself.”
Meet the artist: Sandy
For those meeting Sandy for the first time, her creative practice resists staying in a single lane. She describes her artistic life as one where paths “loop, merge, diverge, and then collide like multiple roller coasters in colorful explosions.” While sketching and doodling with pencil and paper first sparked her love of creating, her work now spans modeling clay, watercolors, cardboard mini-scenes, paper crafting, digital art, and writing — all practices that resist staying still. Though writing has long been part of her creative world, art has taken the lead recently — and Sandy is content to follow where it pulls her.
What continues to light her up is not just the finished piece, but the act of creation itself. Sometimes, she says, it’s simply about “bringing something into being,” a process she finds inherently transformative. But just as often, the transformation happens within. Art, for Sandy, is a language learned early — one passed down from her Nana, whose canvases held entire worlds of wonder and horror. Looking at those works, whether melting faces or starkly realistic scenes, made her feel less alone.
“Through art, I can build a bridge between my inner worlds and the real one — and that bridge is where creation happens.”
“Reality is not always a place my imagination is comfortable with,” Sandy explains. “But through art, I can build a bridge between my explosive inner worlds and the real one — and that bridge is where creation happens.” In that space between worlds, art becomes a conduit for Sandy — a way to feel the emotions of the world more fully, to scream when words fall short, to find comfort in the nightmarish dark, and to bring a spark back to herself. When she creates, the world sharpens into focus. She describes taking “the fractured pieces of my muddled mind, grinding them to ash, heating them to molten forms before recognizing a moment’s clarity.” In several darker seasons of her life, art became a means of survival — a phoenix rising through eagerness, hope, and an enduring trust in line and color.
What’s been tugging at her imagination…
As January settles in, Sandy finds herself drawn to a mix of warmth and clarity. Seasonal coziness shows up in cinnamon honey tea, reading outside under a blanket, and trading horror stories by candlelight with family on the back porch. Alongside that comfort, she’s been increasingly inspired by freshness: fresh herbs from a garden, freezing clear river water, and crisp winter air. Her current creative intention is simple but evocative — she wants to “wrap up freshness and put it on canvas.”
Inkside Sandy’s creative rituals…
When Sandy sits down to create, comfort and atmosphere matter. She makes sure her tools are ready — whether that’s a charged iPad and pencil, watercolor paper and paints, or a sketchbook and mechanical pencil. She also makes sure her cats are occupied, noting with a laugh that they are “a MENACE to my art,” their cuddle demands leading to shaky lines and fur permanently embedded in wet paint. A candle is lit, music is playing, and then she lets herself drift. Rather than forcing an idea, Sandy prefers to zone out and “feel out where the sketch wants to go.”
Stories behind this season’s work…
Weeping Wo(man)unds
One of the pieces Sandy shared with Skip Sketch this season is still a work in progress, but it’s already deeply personal. Her favorite moments so far have been spent exploring shading and blur, pushing light and dark into conversation.
The figure at the center of the piece is inspired by a woman whose body represents both virtue and vice — crucified for the beauty she conveys, yet celebrated for her rootedness.
Sandy describes her as someone subdued by her nature in order to survive her environment. Growing from shallow waters, with leaves fluttering like curtains around her, the figure holds a quiet tension between fragility and strength. Sandy hopes to “give this piece justice” as it reaches completion.
Cinnamon Chickcharney
In contrast, another featured work leans fully into playful storytelling. Cinnamon Chickcharney, the November print for the Mini Monster Menagerie, is a grumpy little creature with a fondness for stealing unattended cinnamon sticks. Sandy says she “enjoyed every part of making” him. The teapot featured in the piece is inspired by her Grammy’s real-life teapot, reimagined with artistic flair. The story behind the creature is surprisingly tender: cinnamon saved his species from apathy, pulling them back from the edge of numbness. Now they feel deeply — and take cinnamon very seriously. If a few sticks go missing, Sandy assures us it was “probably one of these furry bois.”
Carrying creative energy into January…
Looking ahead, Sandy hopes to gently bring order to the abundance of ideas flowing faster than her hands can keep up. Rather than slowing creativity down, her intention for January is “softly organizing” — creating space where ideas can land, rest, and become something tangible without being lost to overwhelm.
If you want to check out more of Sandy’s works, all are welcome on her TikTok: @maydayhem
Thanks for being here, and we hope your new year is full of sparking wonders!
Happy New Year,
The Skip Sketch Studio Team 🩶
