Sabina Bye, an active member for over 20 years who designed the first NAA website, appreciates the updated NAA website. Through the years,  she has garnered many commissions via the website through the online artist gallery. The BIG one she says was a $1000 commission for a pastel landscape of the Truckee River which now hangs in the Sparks Community Center. Pet portraits are another popular request. 

A versatile artist, Sabina prefers pastels and oils for layering on color but also enjoys the free flow and lifting techniques in watercolor. As she works from her own photos, learning the importance of strong compositions in a photography workshop assists her in creating interesting paintings.

She prefers using her own photos for reference when making pet portraits but uses the owner’s photographs if necessary. She loves the challenge of capturing the animal’s character in her work.  Her favorite place to take photos of animals is the zoo where she can observe the animals for some time. Sabina will use charcoal to express the exhaustion of this mother gorilla who rests her hand on her head after wrestling with her young ’un from a photo she took at the Atlanta Georgia Zoo.

NAA is fortunate to have many members volunteering on the critical day of show change.  It wasn’t surprising to see Sabina taking the extra time to help those who needed guidance on preparing their work for display at last month’s show change. Not everyone who needed the information was able to attend her free gallery demonstration on preparing work for presentation before the exhibit, so we were lucky to have her on-site to assist.