SARA DUDENHOEFFER

As a teenager in a small farming community in Alberta, Canada, Sara dreamed of being a big-city artist. Never expecting to be the stay-home-mother of two little ones, the wife of a hard-working man, and a very-much-domesticated, scrapbooking, cooking, sewing, cleaning woman... life has turned out a little different for Sara. She considers herself very blessed.

Both Sara's art and writing reflect an internal struggle between rural and urban, creativity and rationality. The characters in her novels work through related struggles. Sara's pictures depict her values, her heritage, and her dreams.

But, there's more to Sara's art and writing than that.





Growing up under the great skies of Alberta, Sara has always found inspiration in the clouds and colours of the sky. Sara believes the sky speaks -- not literally, but the sky definitely has things that it tells us. All of nature has stories for us. Perhaps this is why Sara will often write in the skies of her paintings and illustrations.

"Nature, as a whole, inspires me - God is the ultimate artist! The changing weather and landscapes of the beautiful province of Alberta give me all the inspiration I need. However, a wise man once said that the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. In my life I have traveled, in my mind, in reality and in my research, to other places around the continent and even overseas and I plan to do much more of that if God allows. In all these travels and in learning about the history of all the places on our earth, I am inspired."

Sara's artist and author tool of choice is the pen. Sara believes that an illustration / painting is succesful if it evokes a feeling. Sara hopes that her illustrations will bring forward a feeling from a memory that may never have happened... that viewer is aware that there is a hidden story there.





Sara says that her writing and her art are often connected in that they are both working towards the same goal. Sara says that the difference between them is the order in which they reach these goals. When Sara begins a new story, She begins with a feeling and finishes with a full picture. However, Sara begins an illustration with a full picture and finishes it looking for a feeling.

"When my work is going well, I am filled with a sense of excitement - I can't wait to see what happens on the paper in front of me next!"