We’re excited to announce Sabina Fenn as the newest addition to the roster of Americanflat Artists. Sabina is a Toronto native who expresses her love of travel and fashion through her painting. Working primarily in gauche, Sabina combines a fashion essence in her art while also depicting international destinations and wanderlust decor themes. Her style also takes inspiration from bohemian art. Sabina's artwork depicts themes of flowing colors and free-spirited imagery, very much so reminiscent of bohemian decor and boho art style.
Mirage by Sabina Fenn
What is Bohemian decor? Often abbreviated “boho,” this decor fashion refers to the eclectic and chic styles inspired by the 1960s and 1970s. Boho art is alluring, often feminine, natural, textured, and colorful. Boho is often inspired by traveling artists, hence a common theme of wanderlust and international accents in boho-decorated spaces. Rooms decorated in a boho style may appear somewhat carefree, but a closer look finds that the elements come together to culminate in a welcoming space that just feels good to be in.
Sunset Dreamer Ii by Sabina Fenn
Changing the way a Room Feels with Boho Art
Well-chosen wall art should change the way a room feels. When we see Sabina’s art in a room, the color palette comes out and permeates the space in a rich, warm, bohemian flavor. We asked Sabina how she so easily blends jewel tones with warm, earthy colors and here's what she said:
“Colors are very important to me. The warmth in the colors that I use are often a reflection of the sort of look and feel that I personally really like in art at the moment. I usually try to think about what I want someone to feel when they look at my art, and usually that’s a combination of warm & peaceful. Since colors play such an important role in that, I often do some color studies and see what combinations I’m enjoying in a particular season. Sometimes I do this by creating a little collage of artwork that really speaks to me at that time, and pull the colors that stand out to me the most from those pieces together.”
Sabina Fenn’s Boho Art – Combining Fashion and Wall Art
With a university education in fashion, Sabina often paints fashion art styles into her illustrations, seeking to add a spark of feminine beauty into her gouache paintings. Again in her words:
“I went to Ryerson University’s Fashion Communications program, and there we learned so much about the industry but also so many helpful tools that apply across all industries like design, marketing, illustration and more. It was a very broad program but everything was specific to fashion, so when I first started illustration as a career, much of my work was focused on fashion because that’s what I had learned in school.”
Bohemian decor often has a flair of femininity: lighter colors, pinks, reds, oranges, bright blues and greens. In addition to emanating a sense of fashion and feminine beauty, Sabina's work is also inclusive, depicting beautiful women of all skin tones in colorful, emotive illustrations:
“I think diversity is important and I think all cultures and skin tones are beautiful. I often found that it was easier for me to paint darker skin tones and I liked the way they looked with the color palettes I was painting with. I remember a few months ago when I was participating in a local market here in Toronto, and so many women felt represented in my work - that really made my heart warm."
Decorating Tips – Give Your Space A Bohemian Vibe
The beauty of boho art is the profound effect it has on a room. Just adding a few pieces in this relaxed style and palette guarantees that the space will be inspiring, welcoming, and carefree.
Here are five tips for how to prepare your space for beautiful Bohemian wall art:
- Know what to expect out of your space! Here is what boho decor is not: Minimalist, matching, colorless, sterile. Boho decor is a medley of beautiful colors and intertwining lines. In decor, boho is a perfect assortment of fabrics, throws rugs, tapestries, duvet covers, furniture, plants, and other elements that combine to create a warm, mood-elevating, inviting space.
- Don’t be afraid of color! Boho art is a celebration of vibrancy and maximalism. Like Sabina, combine eclectic and saturated jewel tones with deep, earthy shades. It’s almost impossible to get the color palette “wrong” with boho.
- Almost anything goes! What makes boho decor so beautiful is the medley aspect of this decor style, the mixture of vintage pieces, illustrated wall prints, handmade artwork, tapestries, throw pillows, etc. A boho space should look like a whirlwind came through, picked everything up, threw it about, and then let it come to rest in a disheveled but lovely fashion.
- Bohemian decor embodies the unconventional. Boho is the thrown-together appeal of vintage finds and the, “Oh look at this, I can use this here!” approach to decorating. Feel free to layer textiles upon textiles, add antique coffee tables and sofas, mid-century modern lighting, and even throw a scarf or two over a chair-back.
- It’s all a game of trial and error. There are so many different ways to change the mood of a space with boho art; it would be impossible to list them all! If you set things up a certain way, and you’re not thrilled with it, try rearranging your decor, adding a piece, subtracting apiece, etc. Odds are your space may just be missing the right item to make it perfect!
The Beauty of Travel Art
Perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring aspects of Sabina Fenn’s boho-style art is the added travel art element she incorporates into much of her work. We all probably wish we could be doing a little more traveling right now, but why not decorate with travel art in its absence? Travel art is inspiring and emotionally uplifting. It reminds us of the beauty and wonder of travel, and it inspires us to keep making travel plans for the future!
Check out Sabina Fenn’s artwork today, and may your space never be the same again!
P.S. Don't forget to show Sabina some love on Instagram! You can find her at @sabibafenn. Tell her we sent you!