About Sarah

From an early age I have drawn and painted. My father wrote to a friend describing me aged seven or eight as 'a genuine dingbat – really eccentric. She spends hours every day, painting, drawing, modelling.'

I moved from Edinburgh to the Western Highlands in 2012 with my family. My second daughter was born shortly afterwards. Family life has found a place in my work, alongside the wonderful landscape. I had studied drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art, and loved the 'life room'. It's also where my obsession with charcoal began. The discipline of life-drawing is still important to me, and I have been running a life-drawing group in our local church hall for ten years. I know that this helps to invigorate my drawing (no matter what the subject) and also hones my 'looking' skills. My surroundings are the primary subject of my pictures: the bay just minutes away, Angel Hill which rises up behind our house, the shinty pitch, the houses and gardens, the trees – everything! My father, the poet Michael Longley, was also inspired by this corner of Lochalsh which has much in common with his own 'soul-landscape' in County Mayo. I have made many drawings in response to his poems.

I also love to paint people – friends and family – animals, wild flowers, still-lifes, interiors. I like my work to dance about between different subjects as this keeps me fresh. Since moving to Kirkton, I have discovered a great joy in teaching, which took me by surprise. I have worked informally in many of the primary schools, and I run a Saturday morning art-club for families. I have also realised how much I love collaboration. This has crystalised through the strong sense of community here in the Highlands.

I grew up in Belfast, where I attended Methodist College. I went to Manchester Metropolitan University to take a foundation course before getting a place in Edinburgh to study illustration. After a year, I switched to Drawing and Painting, and completed first a BA and then an MFA. I have exhibited widely in Ireland. In 2026 I was made a full member of the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA). I have also had work accepted in the Royal Scottish Academy and Royal Hibernian Academy annual shows. Prizes include The Catriona White Memorial Drawing Prize from Edinburgh College of Art, 1997, and the Royal Ulster Academy Drawing Prize, 2025. My work is in several public collections including the Department for the Environment (Northern Ireland), and the Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick University.