Artist · Designer · Fiddler Crab
Hi! I’m Sam.
I’m an artist and illustrator based in Raleigh, North Carolina. I work primarily in watercolor and digital illustration, often somewhere at the intersection of nature, pattern, and storytelling.
I’m especially drawn to projects involving food and beverage, packaging, surface design, and editorial work, and I love when there’s room for hand-drawn elements, imperfect lines, and a little whimsy.
I almost don't know how to talk about my
art without a little time travel.
art without a little time travel.
I grew up in Coastal North Carolina, in the early ’90s - a peculiar intersection of an analog childhood and the emerging digital world.
My home was bordered by marsh and forest, and many of my earliest influences and friendships had shells, scales, claws, or a tendency to scuttle sideways. I spent many a day wandering through the woods, exploring the marsh at low tide, and sneaking reptiles into the house. Those landscapes, creatures, and early experiences continue to find their way into my work, filtered through memory and reimagined from an adult perspective.
An unlikely sort of art school.
I was raised by two largely self-taught creative types. My mother is a naturally talented artist and designer with an endless appreciation for materials and process, and my father is a gifted builder and carpenter who seems able to engineer just about anything.
My own education followed a similarly winding path through independent study, combined with travel, folk schools, and years spent working alongside my mother in her jewelry and art supply store. I grew up there, with the unusual good fortune of having shelves of materials to experiment with and the opportunity to attend workshops led by visiting artists and instructors from across the country.
When there was a medium I especially took to, I often ended up teaching a class in it myself, discovering along the way that teaching can be its own form of learning. Breaking a process apart and finding the language to explain it to someone else has a funny way of deepening your own understanding.
I work across a variety of mediums, most often moving between watercolor and digital illustration.
Across both, my work often combines illustration with mark-making and pattern, reinterpreting familiar subjects through a slightly off-kilter lens - somewhere between organic and whimsical.Patterns in particular have been a persistent thread in my work. I became a Certified Zentangle® Teacher in 2011, and its influence has been wriggling its way into my artwork ever since.
Much of my recent creative focus has gone into Figulīna, a restaurant started by my husband in early 2024. I lead much of its creative direction, working across illustration, menus, merchandise, events, digital design, and the evolving visual world surrounding it.
Alongside Figulīna, I maintain my own studio practice, take on freelance illustration and design projects, and teach. As I step back from the day-to-day of Fig, I’m excited to make more room for new creative work and collaborations.
Alongside Figulīna, I maintain my own studio practice, take on freelance illustration and design projects, and teach. As I step back from the day-to-day of Fig, I’m excited to make more room for new creative work and collaborations.
Let's create something together!
