Today, we’d like to introduce you to Sadie Pennell.
Hi Sadie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.
Miniature paintings are not common, and I am often asked how I got into painting pieces so tiny. I’ve been painting tiny pieces exclusively for about five years, but I painted my first miniature (2.4cm) piece during my senior year of formal art training in 2017. The idea was first born from an act of creative rebellion. Anyone who knows me knows I am the most even-tempered and easy-going person.
My mother has always said I have the patience of a Saint. These qualities, along with my confidence, determination, and resilience, were put to the test during my senior year. It’s a long story I’ve written about in detail on my blog published on my website if you’d like to dive deeper into my experiences there! But to make a long story short, I was pushed hard, with my work being routinely and publicly decimated. I was steered sharply toward the creation of large (I’m talking 6-foot canvases large), abstract acrylic pieces, stating I was a mediocre painter at best and would never be successful in realism.
As such, I should focus my efforts on abstraction. But nothing I created ever earned anything close to a positive comment and certainly not praise from my toughest professor. My critiques only got worse with every piece I created. Following my final critique, I went home and decided something needed to change. I decided to do the farthest opposite thing I could imagine from what I’d been told to do. I sat down like a madwoman, shrinking my sketches smaller and smaller until I found myself tracing the edge of a quarter on a piece of watercolor paper. Despite being freshly through the wringer, my cheeky spirit was still intact, so I conceded to keep the demand for abstraction and looseness.
I painted an abstracted female form with fierce brush strokes, wild lines, and splattered color, all accomplished through precision and attention to detail, all contained within that 2.4cm worth of space. At that moment, I knew I had found what I loved to create. Perhaps not painting abstracted miniatures specifically, as that was fully intended to be taken as a silent smart-ass comment (and it was), but painting at that size in general. My senior show featured my first eighteen-piece series of miniatures, which I titled “Smorgasbord.” It was well received, even earning my first and only compliment from my toughest professor. After careful inspection, he said, “Well, Sadie, you’ve proven to be one of the most prolific artists here. Congratulations.”
From there, I began painting miniatures more and more frequently, and a couple of years later, making the decision to paint them exclusively. Since then, I’ve turned it into a slowly but steadily growing business. I’ve had work in galleries and sold work across the United States. With our recent move to North Georgia, I am excited to break into the Atlanta art scene.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My road to finding myself as an artist wasn’t easy. Even after I did, I faced many struggles getting back my confidence in art and feared the fine arts community for several years because of it. I painted a lot post-college but didn’t muster up the courage to take my work to galleries until four years after college.
The first gallery I walked into was Art 111 in downtown Colorado Springs after speaking with the owner, Robin Schneider, on the phone. He asked me to bring five pieces in. I arrived with my work and remember him asking, “Need help getting them out of your car?” And the look of utter confusion when I told him I actually had them tucked away neatly in my purse. Like Mary Poppins, I began taking each fully framed piece out one by one and laid them out on the counter in front of him. He picked one up and said, “You said small, but you didn’t say THIS small. This is insane.” For the next two years, I exhibited and sold dozens of pieces in his gallery.
As I approached more galleries, I was accepted one after the other, even having to turn down several as I was still teaching art (K-7) at the time and couldn’t do enough work to fill each space. This newfound confidence led me to enter a Small Works juried exhibition at Academy Art & Frame Company in late 2023, in which my piece titled; “Gramophone” took first in Watercolors. There, I met and befriended the gallery owner, Kim Costello, who also happens to be a collector of miniatures. Her praise of my work melted those lingering art world fears away. I hope I go on to make her proud.
In 2022, I made the decision to leave my job as a K-7 Art Teacher to pursue remote possibilities to better provide for my family and allow myself more time to focus on my art. While I absolutely adored teaching and all of my students, the transition really has been life-changing. I took up Salesforce, earning my Administrator certification in six months. While job searching, my small business grew. Now, with a fully remote Salesforce Consultant position right near Atlanta, I am able to paint every day, grow my small business, and continue to grow my name in the art world.
As a cherry on top, I’ll be getting back to education, as I’ve just been made Chair of Dahlonega’s Art Alliance’s Community Education Committee, a group with the goal of bringing more art education opportunities to both local children and adults. If you’re interested in coming out and taking a class, follow me on Instagram or connect with me on my website for updates on dates and times! Teaching is still such a passion of mine, and so thrilled the road I chose allows me to do it all and give back to the community.
We’d love to learn more about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
I am a watercolor artist specializing in miniature paintings. More specifically, I am known for my circular pieces 2.4cm x 2.4cm or smaller (just shy of an inch). I like to say that I specialize in a size rather than a subject, as each of my works is no larger than the size of a quarter but spans many topics.
My work is based on joy, finding joy in life’s little moments and depicting that feeling through tiny imagery meant to capture one’s curiosity, bring them in, and encourage focusing on all they are seeing in such a minute space – all the details, colors, and warmth embedded within each piece. As I have evolved in my art, so too has my framing style. Framing has become an incredibly important part of my process, every bit as important as the painting within, and is part of what sets me apart.
I spend so much time frame hunting, scouring antique, thrift, and other second-hand stores for gorgeous vintage gems like those you see photographed throughout this piece. Many artists working on a small scale prefer sleek and simple frames. I am definitely the opposite. I enjoy placing my itsy-bitsy work in larger 8” x 10” ornate frames, sometimes even choosing what to paint next based entirely on the look and feel of a frame I’ve restored or selected. The painting, matting, and framing of each piece are critical elements of my work.
Along with being an artist, I am a business owner working to bridge the gap between fine art and custom art, as custom art is not always viewed as “Fine Art.” In addition to pieces I create born of my own meaningful experiences displayed and sold in galleries, I offer services to the public to create works specific to them, taken by request and commission. Each commissioned piece is treated with the utmost care and held to the same standard as my gallery works, as it is not only my goal to bring fine arts into more homes but to provide my clients with pieces they will cherish for many years to come and take pride in owning.
My pieces are often commissioned and given as gifts to loved ones. It is the impact my work has on those who receive it that I am most proud of. Clients often write to me following gifting the piece to their loved one. There are moments in our lives that are so meaningful, and those who love us most know which moments those are to each of us.
Art is powerful, even more so when it is infused with YOUR most beloved and treasured moments, memories, and memorabilia. The heartfelt testimonials from my clients mean the most to me as an artist, as my guiding principle in art (and in life) is to pass on happiness.
Who else deserves credit – have you had mentors, supporters, cheerleaders, advocates, clients or teammates that have played a big role in your success or the success of the business? If so – who are they and what role did they plan / how did they help.
I might not still be creating art if it wasn’t for my family. Seriously. Formal Arts Training was not easy it was so brutal that I look back on it now and will literally chuckle and tremble at the same time. I was pushed so hard and so ruthlessly there came a point I called my parents hysterically sobbing, saying I didn’t want to make art anymore.
To this day, I still can’t recall that conversation. If it wasn’t for them bringing me back to my love for art and picking me up every time, I felt like I couldn’t continue; I may not have been able to graduate from art school, let alone find my calling in art. It is truly thanks to both my parents and brother I found what I was meant to create. They, along with my husband and in-laws, are my biggest cheerleaders. My first gift to my now husband was a miniature watercolor of a P-51 Mustang, the piece that first inspired his suggestion, telling me, “You should really make something of this!”
Shortly after, I fondly named my small business after his nickname for me, Sweet Pea, which also happens to be both of our initials. He has been a monumental pillar of support throughout my journey, encouraging me, believing in me, and celebrating me every step of the way. My husband, my family, and his family are the same, cheering me on in everything I do. Each of them owns at least one of my pieces. It’s so sweet! Their support is beyond touching. I am truly blessed to have each of them.
Pricing:
- 2.4cm x 2.4cm } Custom Watercolor Paintings | $100+
- 2.4cm x 2.4cm | Finished Watercolor Pieces | $80+
- 2.5″ x 3″ or 3″ x 3″ | Custom “Large” Watercolors | $170
- 2.4cm x 2.4cm | Line Paintings | $12
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sweetpeapaintingsc.wixsite.com/sweetpea/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetpeapaintingsco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sweetpeapaintingsco/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetPeaPaintingsCo
