We meet Sarah Smith AKA The Dartmoor Artist
In 2018 the course of Sarah Smith’s life was altered by a single sneeze, prolapsing her spine, and confining her to a year spent on the floor. During her protracted road to recovery Sarah became a self-taught artist, initially to support her personal wellbeing, before flourishing into her own business – The Dartmoor Artist. I caught up with Sarah to learn more about her journey, artistic practice and her business acumen which recently gained her a spot on the UK’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneur list.
AM: Please could you give our readers an overview of the journey which led you to create The Dartmoor Artist?
SS: Hello! My name’s Sarah Smith, otherwise known as The Dartmoor Artist. My sustainable art and hand painted homewares business began in 2018 after a freak sneeze led to spinal surgery! I know what you’re thinking - a sneeze?! Really?! Yes, really. Completely random, a one-off accident I never saw coming. That one sneeze led me to prolapsing the discs in my lower spine and I spent a year of my life on the living room floor. Undergoing physio, spinal injections and extended periods of bed rest, it was the foundation for something that would eventually become the business it is today.
I taught myself to paint after my surgery with one aim - to get better and to be able to recover. But little did I know the incredible strength I would get from finding a creative outlet and the huge benefits it would have for my mental health. As many back sufferers will know, back pain is so common and there’s not a lot of sympathy or support for ongoing back complaints. Anyone who lives with chronic pain will know and fully understand how debilitating it is. So discovering painting was part of a journey that enabled me to embrace creativity and something positive during a particularly challenging time.
As I began to heal, painting took over my life and my home and with the support of family and friends, they encouraged me to begin a small business. Little did I know it would see me moving the business out of the family home and into a purpose-built studio just two years later. But this is way more than just a business for me. The Dartmoor Artist gives me purpose, joy and direction and I’m so thankful I managed to create it from the living room floor up.
AM: How did you find the determination to go into business during what must have been an extremely difficult time?
SS: To be quite honest, I’m not really sure! I definitely had to dig deep to see any positives at the time because the pain threshold was off the chart! I think sometimes when we look back on events in our lives, it’s easy to look back on challenges you’ve faced with rose tinted glasses. The reality for me, was that there were no rose tinted specs. My physical and mental health was at such a low, the determination only really came when I found a purpose with art. Art ticked a box in my head and heart and transported me out of the grey.
I suppose I’m also someone who genuinely believes that there’s always something we can be thankful for, even during dark times. That, combined with being someone who’s always had to work hard, was something my parents instilled in me at a young age that you don’t give up. You keep going. Here’s the thing, I never thought it would become a business, I didn’t begin it with the aim of making money. I began it because the gut reaction was ‘this is for me’.
AM: Were you always interested in art?
SS: No! I took art classes in school and always enjoyed it, but very much left the art-set packed in a box when I left school. Perhaps that’s what’s exciting for anyone about to learn something new. There’s so much of ourselves we don’t know we’re capable of and dusting off old ‘boxes’ from the past or opening new ones encourages the idea that anything is possible. There’s always something new to discover.
AM: What themes can we expect to find in your artwork and where do you find your inspiration?
SS: I live and work on a farm in the middle of Dartmoor. A herd of Devon red ruby cattle graze the land, sheep get stuck in hedges and there’s a waft of countryside each day! The landscape is beautiful and a constant source of inspiration. Dartmoor is a broad beautiful expanse of flora and fauna with open moorland stretching out as far as the eye can see. You can’t help but be inspired from it.
My work celebrates the beauty of the English countryside and the possibility that you can always find a little magic and joy in simple things. I create hand-painted, thoughtful makes where everything begins with a hand-drawn design. My process is simple – making things inspired by a love of the land, things I find in the hedgerows, witnessing the seasons change and my desire to create positive meaningful work. There’s a playfulness and magic I input directly into my makes and the desire to make things that make people happy.
AM: Congratulations on being listed as one of the UK’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs for this year! Has this been the highlight of your career so far?
SS: I mean, who would have thought?! The old me in pain on the living room floor would have laughed and probably said ‘jog on!’ (or worse to that effect!) It’s still very much a pinch me moment that I’m incredible honoured to be a part of.
I attended a ceremony at the House of Lords only a few weeks ago (I wanted to wear my wellies, but my mum convinced me not to!), I met with 99 awesome women and incredible female founders who are bossing their businesses and running them with integrity, passion and purpose. It was also a day where we openly discussed how female founders often get little recognition for their graft and we celebrated the growing sense that this should change.
It’s certainly been a career highlight and an achievement I’ll never forget. There is power when strong women come together and cheer each other on.
AM: What other achievements for The Dartmoor Artist are you proud of?
SS: I’m proud that I’ve built a business that supports me and my family. I feel I’m testament that you can change your path at any point and that with challenge and change there’s an enormous opportunity for success.
As a rural business with the tagline “from the middle of nowhere to your somewhere” I’m proud that my business celebrates sustainability. Restoring our farm, my studio sits in the eaves of what used to be the farm’s old granary. It uses renewable energy to source the electricity through solar panels and manages waste by filtering through a reed bed. We work with permaculture gardeners to grow our own veg and flowers and these flowers are dried and used within all of my packaging. All of my makes are recyclable and sourced from FSC sustainably forested wood and I’m a member of the eco alliance for my packaging.
One other achievement I’m particularly proud of, is that I wrote and illustrated a book during lockdown. The book itself was written, illustrated, designed and printed all within a six mile radius of the farm. I wanted to capture a period of time for my family, so I included them as characters in the story and dedicated it to my father who we sadly lost a few years ago. That was one proud moment reading that book to my family.
AM: Do you have any advice for maintaining a positive mentality, especially when in business?
SS: Who you are and what you do is unique and if someone doesn’t like that, then that’s ok – we can’t make everyone happy. BUT we can think positively about what we do and affirm it by being confident enough to hold up the megaphone / shine a light on what we do. Staying positive can’t happen all the time. I’m a realist. HOWEVER, I do think that making sure you are kind to yourself is the key to a positive outlook, both personally and in business.
It’s also important to know that integrity is everything. I pride myself on having a transparent, honest, clear vision for my business and rely heavily on that first gut reaction. If it feels right, it’s probably right and communicating these thoughts to your nearest and dearest will give you accountability. Also on a simple level – you can’t beat a strong brew, a long walk and turning the out-of-office on.
AM: How do you find a work/life balance?
SS: Hmmmm, I’m not sure I have! I’m notoriously hard working and find it difficult to switch off. The farm never stops! I think this is also the reality of having a business that you love. When you live and breathe your small business, you are so immersed in it it’s difficult to step back. My work set up is that I have chunks of time to achieve set things. I then have time which breaks the day up. The dog walk means I get fresh air every afternoon, the school run tops and tails my day and I try to make sure I have one day a week where I do something for myself.
I suppose defining what success means to you can help. For me success doesn’t equate to pound signs. Success is happiness and if I can avoid the odd cowpat from time to time, then win, win!
AM: What are you working on currently?
SS: At the moment my Spring Collection is live on the website, and I’ve just created a brand new Children’s Collection which I’m really excited about! If you visit my website at the moment you’ll see sustainable ways to celebrate Spring, send eggs and spark joy from the Easter bunny. The beauty of making my work is that everything is hand drawn, made and created to be as personalised and bespoke as possible. It’s also lovely to see the seasons change here on the farm and reflect them directly back into my work.
As a planner, my sketchbook currently has the title ‘Christmas 2022’(!) because I’ve learnt that giving yourself the time to design is crucial to keeping momentum. There’s also only one elf in the workshop, so leaving myself time to hand paint bespoke products means less stress during busy periods.
AM: How do you deal with creative blocks?
SS: I walk away! Imagine that scene in Pitch Perfect when she drags the chair and slow walks off into the distance!
I think the worst thing you can do when you’re not feeling it is to keep trying. I’ve learnt that the best thing to do if there’s a creative block is to close a door on it. It will come back, but quite often it’s a sign that something else in your life needs attention. I find that my creativity goes a little awry when I’ve got personal things going on that need me to step back. I’d say just don’t force it. Also being a small business means there’s always something to do – this doesn’t have to be creative.
Sometimes revisiting your website to see how it looks and whether it still feels like ‘you’ can help. Taking the time with a brew in hand to look at your business with glasses on can do wonders for where the next step may take you. Could you improve your sustainability footprint? Could you make it easier for the customer to purchase something? Could you decrease your Instagram scrolling for well-planned scheduled content? You get me. So, shut the door, walk away and don’t be too hard on yourself.
AM: Finally, what is the most useful piece of advice you’ve been given regarding going into business?
SS: Find the thing that lights you up inside and use that as a foundation to begin. Find something that gives you joy and purpose because you need that drive to push forward! With a fast paced world and an ever changing landscape of visuals, social media and imposter syndrome, stay in your own lane. It’s so easy to compare yourself to others, but if you can focus on your own ability, that special thing that makes you ‘you’ then your halfway there. I never intended to make a business but what happened was the more I began to explore and play with process, the more it snowballed, because I was finding ‘my thing’
My joy in finding art is my catalyst for building my business and I couldn’t be any more thankful for that sneeze!
Find out more about The Dartmoor Artist here:
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Abigail is a photographer, writer and mother of four based in West Yorkshire. She is keen to explore all manner of themes within human nature and history through her photographic practice, amalgamating in a dusky, decadent aesthetic. These visual characteristics are further enhanced through her use of analogue equipment. Her photographic work is informed by a unique depth of research, and she prides herself on becoming fully immersed in the intricacies of each theme that my work explores. Whilst she specialises in editorial fashion photography, her work is also characterised by elements from a variety of photographic genres, particularly street and documentary photography. When she’s not photographing, she is writing, especially on topics such as visual arts, culture and history and is currently undertaking personal and editorial work in this field.
