Sarita Moffat Biography
Having started out life in Connecticut but grown up in Canada, England, Switzerland and France, Sarita spent a good deal of time in her youth attending the requisite dreaded boarding schools. The little art instruction that was part of these curricula was rudimentary at best; certainly not fodder for a future career, but that didn’t stop her from always having a pencil at the ready and receiving many a reprimand for drawing in class when she should have been paying attention to the lessons at hand.
Sarita wanted to paint from the start. As a child, even though she was not particularly encouraged, her Christmas and birthday wish lists always were replete with requests for paint sets, and on one or two occasions when she was taken to the toy store and given permission to make a selection, it would be a no-brainer. She would head straight for the art section.
Sarita dreamed of becoming an artist, but was firmly and mightily taught that this was a hobby, not a career. After all, one could not “make a living” in such a pursuit and so she was steered firmly into the business world. Those were the days when one simply did – at least a fairly timid youngster such as she was in those days did – what your parents told you to do.
So at the age of 22, well prepared for a “proper” career, off she went into the world where she excitedly landed a job at National Geographic in New York. Sarita had a successful 34 years there, transferring to the Washington area half way through. It was all on the manufacturing, business and financial side though, wrapping up her career as Vice President in charge of financial and strategic planning on the magazine side, but not once during that entire time so much as picking up a paintbrush or sketching a scene. Those thoughts had been successfully, although temporarily, obliterated from her mind. Sarita's art career never got started – that is, until she retired and promptly hung up her briefcase, jumping with both feet and full speed into her long-repressed passion.
In her enthusiasm Sarita had imagined the romance of picking up a paintbrush and having mad, exciting duels with the canvas resulting in brilliant works of art, naively not having foreseen the multitude of lessons and hard work that would be necessary to reach a level acceptable even for a beginner. But she happily took on these challenges, throwing herself into studying still lifes, florals and landscapes. Sarita has garnered many an award and today her works can be found in collections in the US, Canada and England. She has barely put down her paintbrush since embarking on the career she felt she felt she was meant to have in the first place.
37091 Adams Green Lane, Middleburg, VA 20117 * (540) 687-4241 * saritamoffat@comcast.net
