Your story deserves to be witnessed, honoured and shared with your loved ones and the world.
“Your art goes below the surface of skin and tissue and goes directly to the soul.”
Leslie W.
Sensitive, luminous heirloom portraits that embody your spirit and story
It seems like time moves faster every day: the precious moments zip past us, disappearing before we even have a chance to blink. We chase after memories with our phone in hand, snapping photos that end up in a camera roll, thousands of images deep, never to be seen again.
Or maybe we’re too busy enjoying life to even remember to take a photo, but you’re left wishing you had some way to keep those memories close.
The important moments so often slip past us, lost in the chaotic river of our lives.
Maybe you’ve achieved things you never thought you could.
Maybe you overcame a personal challenge that tested you deeply.
Maybe someone you love is in a precious moment of transition: graduation, marriage, a significant birthday, the last months before parenthood begins, or the transition into adulthood.
All of these moments are stories to be told: rich, layered times that mark where we’ve come from, what we’ve been through, and where we’re going. These moments are the chapter headings in our lives.
These stories deserve to be witnessed, honoured and shared.
I feel my portraits are so special and intimate
Sarah was so amazing to work with. She is patient and easy to work with. I never really thought of myself as someone who would commission portraits, but I knew Sarah, and had seen samples of her work on social media. I feel my portraits are so special and intimate; they are life-like and it makes me feel like my children are here even when they are not.”
Sarah W.
“But I’m not the Queen of England.”
(Or King, or famous, or whatever.)
I know portraits have a bit of a bad rap.
When most people think of portraits, we think of ego run amok: massive paintings of kings and queens, the rich and powerful flaunting that power over their peasants. The men are filled with hubris, the women are reduced to decoration.
But this is art reduced to its most shallow form. Portraits can be so much richer, deeper and more nuanced: they can be about the human behind the title.
I deeply believe our individual stories matter, both to us and our loved ones and to the communities we belong to. We share our stories not because of ego, not because we want to say “Oh look at me, I’m the King/Queen of England” but because we are important to the people who love us, and we all want to carry our loved ones’ stories with us.
A woman once told me that because her mother hated having her photo taken, she has almost no images of her mother from her childhood. That moment is gone and this woman felt so much regret. Our loved ones want us to be visible in their lives.
I believe that portraits can be transformative, liberating, healing.
I have seen the power they can have in people’s lives: to create change, to show us our whole selves, to shine lights on the richness we don’t always know is there.
Portraits can be about telling different kinds of stories than the ones told to us.
We can use portraits of ourselves and others to change the narrative: they can change the kinds of stories we tell about ourselves and can be part of changing the broader cultural narratives we live within.
I wanted to capture my daughters at the height of their beauty in a unique and memorable way.
I told Sarah at the time, there were so many ways that this might not have worked out, but the whole process was wonderful and the outcome completely satisfying. Looking at my daughters’ portraits makes me feel proud of my daughters and proud to have had them painted.
Charles H.
How are we telling the important stories of our lives?
How do we commemorate these milestones and moments in a way that is more enduring and meaningful than a quick snap on an iPhone? How do we make sure that these stories are being told?
How are we creating a legacy we can be proud of?
Portraits are memory made tangible.
“It was either going to be a tattoo or a portrait, and a portrait seemed like the better choice.”
Portraits help us slow down time. They evoke a moment with depth and wholeness in a way that snapshots can never replicate. They tell our stories with sensitivity and nuance, capturing our softness and our strength.
Each painting is literally and metaphorically layered, crafted with care and attention. Our faces contain so much richness: our experiences and stories are written there, embedded in our bones and skin.
“Sarah makes you feel safe and welcome.
My portrait definitely captured a side of me that I usually don’t see. A portrait captures an accumulation of your micro expressions that makes you You! There’s dimensions.”
Elyse D.
Our painting brings back many wonderful memories
It’s a great joy to see my husband portrayed so very well. He likes it because it captures his image from a few years ago in his favorite place besides home, Italy.
Deborah K.
Selected Portfolio
I enjoy seeing myself through Sarah’s eyes. She sees me.
Coralie G.
I see these portraits every day
and think of Dorian Grey
each one a self of my own true selves;
none less wonderful.
Les W.
Commission Your Portrait
Portrait Paintings
Portrait Drawings
About Sarah Marie Lacy
I’ve always been drawn to portraiture and people’s faces. I am endlessly fascinated by the human body in all of its intricacy and grace.
Growing up, it was the portraits in art history books that I first fell in love with – people’s stories and lives looking out at me centuries later.
But those stories are also limited in their scope. While there are exceptions, for most of history, portraits were used to tell just a few kinds of stories.
Portraits are about legacy, but I want to stretch that definition beyond merely “status symbol”. I want your portrait to leave the legacy of your journey, to share the wholeness of your character.
I want to tell new kinds of stories. I want portraits to be inclusive, subversive and dare I say it – a little bit radical. I want to break portraits out of their tiny pigeonhole and invite the whole world in.
I want to honour the lives of those of us who have been historically left out, whether because of gender, race, social status or the thousand other ways people were excluded.
If you think “A portrait? Me? Really? But I’m not [fill in the blank]” but the idea intrigues you, then you’re exactly who I’m talking to.
We all deserve the dignity of having our story told. None of us is boring. We all contain a lifetime of depth in our faces.
If you’re looking for slick, flashy and ostentatious, you won’t find it here.
If you’re looking for rich, meaningful, intimate storytelling that honours you as a whole person, then you’re in the right place.