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Artist Biography
Sarah Jane has pursued her artistic interest since 1995. Mostly self-taught, she has been inspired by the scenic communities where she has lived which include Gloucester, MA; Sackville, NB; her birthplace St. John’s NL and her current home in Fall River, NS.
She has successfully exhibited in galleries across Nova Scotia, and is currently exhibiting in Teichert Gallery, Halifax, NS, and Peter Lewis Gallery, St. John’s, NL, and Trinity Galleries, Saint John, NB. She is featured in ‘From Land and Sea, Nova Scotia Contemporary Landscape Artists’, (Nimbus Publishing, 2009), and the 2012 Sharing the View Calendar, a cooperative fundraising project with CBC Radio, and Feed Nova Scotia. She has published two books, 'Flying Colours', 2014, and 'Nesting Grounds', 2019.
Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
Birds of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions build unique nests in which to lay and nurture their eggs, from which will hatch the next generation. It’s a marvel to watch: creation in all its glory and all in a nest, big or small or built with spider silk and lined with moss, like the delicate ping-pong ball-sized hummingbird nest. Robins use a lot of mud and grasses to build their nests and Snow Buntings use moss, roots, grass, and feathers. Whether the nest is nestled in the tree branches or tucked under the eaves, or secure within a rocky crevice, each nest is unique to its own type of bird, made to nurture and protect, using what materials are most readily available.
Sarah Jane Conklin’s picture book story, Nesting Grounds, is a delightful way to teach young readers about the many types of birds and their nests. Using her own oil paintings to illustrate the various birds and nests, the author/artist has presented lyrical rhyming verse to describe the images of each bird and nest illustrated. But this book isn’t just for young readers. Its artistic charm will attract bird lovers of all ages to read and enjoy. The book begins with a short, rhyming poem to describe the basic nature of birds and their nests and why each type of nest is important to a specific bird. Each of the ten birds chosen for this book has a four-line stanza describing the nest and the interesting eggs laid within. A very enjoyable read: informative and illustrative.
