I've seen the top of Everest (from a long way off), smelled the breath of a whale (from way too close) and lived on a boat in Greece (for a few years), but I continue to experience some of my most precious moments much closer to home.
I'm Sarah Lewis,
Inventor at ShoreLark -
When I was little, you could often find me lying on my belly gazing into a rock pool or poking about in the strand line among weed and wood and washed up things. It's still one of my favourite things to do.
I plucked up courage to study Marine Biology at Liverpool University as a mature student and that got me hooked on plankton, that marvelous microscopic, iridescent, sguiggly stuff that floats in the sea and feeds mighty leviathans.
Later I worked for the RSPB monitoring shorebirds and protecting rare little terns. In the middle of all that, I lived on a boat in Greece. It was a sort of dream that was meant to last for a year, but which turned into a six year adventure.
Over the years I have collected a lot of flotsam and jetsam and when me and my husband Charlie finally gave up living at sea and came back to our home in Wales, I knew I needed to play with the things I'd found and finally shape them into the ideas that filled my sketch books and poems. I attended several art courses and workshops but mainly use my experience of the sea and knowledge of its creatures to begin creating my pieces.
I still have itchy feet and now go wandering in our camper van with Charlie. We've driven back to Greece a few times, and to France and Italy. But I mostly love exploring Wales and Scotland. When we get the chance we head off, without a plan except to vaguely head West, to wild camp where we can hear the waves and I can fall asleep dreaming about all the treasures I'm going to find on the beach in the morning. [email protected]