Saira Acosta Diaz

Saira is an artist, illustrator and print-maker. Having previously worked as a fine art oil painter and art educator, Saira’s focus has moved towards printmaking, a medium which enables her desire to create art expressing human emotions and life’s complexities.

Saira’s confidence to use the art of printmaking as an illustrative language, conveying words that are often difficult to voice, is both powerful and refreshing. The simplicity of her style readily conveys intricate subjects and behaviours, and is a way of making sense of the world and making visual connections.

Aesthetic

Saira’s style of printmaking is linear, raw and simplistic, it instantly gets to the bare bones of the subject matter. The measured choice of the well known stickman is significant, it’s an accessible style of art to everyone. Action or intention can be easily portrayed, recognised and could represent anyone. Her goal is to create art which is relatable, potentially humorous and ultimately share emotions and situations that are commonly experienced, no one is alone.

Saira enjoys working mainly in bold colours, muted where appropriate, all chosen to reflect the psychology of emotion as well as the message of each artwork.

Saira developed an early interest in art through self teaching, studying basic drawing, colour, human and animal anatomy and art psychology, and began working with a charity teaching art for those experiencing mental health difficulties. This first hand experience of how the practice of art was able to unlock deep emotion has been key to wanting to create images depicting the curiosities of life.

Practice

Working as an artist for over 15 years, Saira’s process in creating her illustrations and ultimately lino prints begins with observations and conversations. Saira’s interpretations of these are developed into sketches before transferring the design and carving into lino. Exploring colour possibilities and trial printing are the next step to ensure they reflect the message and mood of the piece, before finally printing.

Saira’s work often culminates in a series of images, enabling a constant flow of ideas, free of restrictions. Whilst often creating a series of around 7 or 8 images per subject, each piece also stands alone, can be grouped in small numbers or enjoyed as the full series.