Portraits

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, subtlety 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. Bored in class in elementary school, I made a whole series of portraits of the backs of my fellow students’ heads. Two decades later, now I have the honour of getting to paint the front of people’s heads as well, much to my relief.

I currently live in Ottawa, Canada with my elderly three-legged Maine Coon rescue cat and a small legion of houseplants.

Selected Credentials

  • Exhibited across Canada, the US and Ireland in private and public galleries
  • Invited demonstrating artist at the National Gallery of Canada on several occasions
  • Featured in American Art Collector and Fine Art Connoisseur
  • Recipient of multiple awards, including first prize for portraiture in the Artist’s Magazine’s yearly international competition, Certificate of Honour at the Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition and two-time finalist in the Art Renewal Center’s International Salon
  • Recipient of multiple grants, both municipal and provincial
  • Founded and ran a traditional painting & drawing school for 5 years
  • Trained in France under master artists for 2.5 years

“Your art goes below the surface of skin and tissue and goes directly to the soul.”

LW, client