If a picture speaks a thousand words, Sarah Jill Pringle has written volumes. Widely known as S.J. Pringle, or Jill to her family and friends, this unique artist is a gem in the creative community of Dufferin County.

Using mostly pencil and chalk pastel, but also acrylic, Pringle’s pieces are each unique and, yet, familiar as she draws stories that may be our own. For the most part, her work features people in a natural setting both by commission and her own inspiration. A featured studio artist at Dragonfly on Broadway, Pringle is grateful to the artists there. “They are so supportive, such a help. The studio creates a sense of comradery.”

Pringle feels she has always been an artist. Since childhood she has not been able to put down a pencil. Homework covered in doodles, Pringle’s talent was evident at a young age. With the misconception firmly planted in her head that artists starve, Pringle believed she needed a backup career and decided to attend school to become a veterinarian technician. Although she loved animals, her heart called her to art. Completely self-taught but utterly determined to grow as an artist, Pringle continued to draw and before finishing college was already selling commissioned pieces.

She won’t soon forget her first sale.

“A woman hired me to draw her son an iguana. When it was completed, she paid me by crocheting me a quilt!” The Iguana is still a popular print in Pringle’s collection and the quilt a popular blanket in her family’s home. Pringle’s success grew as she was given a few gallery shows and after college, receiving multiple commissions, Pringle decided to throw caution to the wind and become a full time “starving artist.”

Pringle continued to work as she got married and had children. She moved to Grand Valley in 2001 because she wanted a small town to raise her kids in and was pleasantly surprised by an artistically rich community and a supportive county. Four years ago, Pringle walked into Dragonfly and found studio space available. She took the space immediately.

Looking at Pringle’s work, one sees a range of emotion, texture, and unique expressions. Inspired by the ever shrinking family farm, Pringle’s latest series features children doing their chores. Released this fall are her newest editions that have been picked up by the elite Access Fine Art Publishers. Also, Pringle’s love for animals has not dissipated. Her work will often feature domestic animals interacting with people.

Pringle will often work from a photograph, whether a commissioned piece or not. Each piece takes her approximately a month to complete. “I have realized as an artist that I needed to hone in and perfect one genre. My early work featured every style, whatever I was feeling in the moment, but I have focused my energy on learning people and evoking emotion.”

Although Pringle is completely self-taught, she says she has never stopped learning and growing. “You think you are stagnant then all of the sudden you will be freshly inspired and see something you didn’t see before. Constantly, new revelations just after a dry period… like a rollercoaster.”

Pringle’s name precedes her. Her work can be found all over the world. Nominated for the best artist of the year by the Headwater’s Tourism Association, Pringle is her own harshest critic. “I am pretty self-critical… a perfectionist. But I am an artist and what is in me, needs to come out.” Pringle believes everyone in the world is creative. Her challenge is to create and never stop. “Who cares what it looks like. People who can write, should. Poetry, drawing, painting, music, photography, gardening, design…”

Pringle says that it is the drive in her that made her successful. “I am determined to be an artist. I need to be an artist. I still have fun, probably now more than ever, but art is not easy. If it was, it wouldn’t be so special.”

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