artist statement
When I paint my spirit is let loose and I can be unapologetically me.
My practice centres on landscapes, particularly coastal and natural environments where I walk my dog and swim. I’m inspired by the interplay of weather and light—especially as seen in clouds, changing skies, and the tones at dawn or dusk I am inspired by the remote and quiet places of Cornwall and Scotland. I usually begin working outside, painting water, the coast, woodlands, and fields before developing these studies further in my Cornwall studio.
Painting has always been a source of resilience for me, having grown up with social anxiety and shyness. My creativity offers hope and meaning. In it I find meditative stillness through intense observation of the nuances of my surroundings. My best sessions are when I let the paint and marks take over. I’m so intensely focused on the nuances of colour and light I don’t even know I’m there and it is like I’m channelling some kind of greater universal force.
I work plein air in gouache at a small scale to create layered paint surfaces, often impregnated with the surface matter of the location. I work quickly without overthinking. Clean colours are offset with subtle tertiaries, strong marks balanced with scumbled layers. I paint to evoke an emotional response. My paintings express joy and awe, tranquillity, hope and sometimes melancholy. Each small piece is a jewel-like memento. Paired with written reflections they inform larger paintings in the studio. I scale up selected small pieces into larger paintings to create an immersive experience. I lay down layers of oil paint and then scrape back like an archaeologist to reveal hidden colours and give a rich surface that invites contemplation.
I want the viewer to feel as though they are standing in the landscape beside me. Ultimately, I want to share the feeling of weather on the face, a child-like wonder at the surprising hues found in neutrals and that sense of rapture of being in the landscape.
artist bio
Sophie paints where she walks with her dog and swims, inspired by the atmosphere and interplay of weather and landscape in Cornwall and Scotland. Working outside in gouache she scales up these small paintings in oil paint in her Cornwall studio, to share the feeling of immersion in the landscape and the observed and sensed colours.
Sophie graduated from the Slade School of Art and worked in user experience for many years until moving to Cornwall in 2020 to pursue her art full time.
artist gallery
