Timeline

1975

Born in Taunton

1993 - 1994

Educated at Swindon College of Art

1994 - 1997

BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Cardiff Art College

Sophie learnt the art of gilding working as an apprentice in the family furniture design business in Wiltshire. She then became a specialist painter and artist achieving great success working to commission. Sophie lives in Sussex with her husband and baby daughter and concentrates solely on her paintings.

Since leaving Art College Sophie’s work has varied enormously. Three months were spent restoring hand painted 18th Century Chinese wallpaper and two months working on a film set recreating the Charleston interiors of the Bloomsbury group. Along side this work Sophie was undertaking a number of commissions for sculpture and paintings for private clients. During this time the opportunity arose for her to paint a pair of twelve-foot high shutters applying the paint as she would to canvas. The Tulips that she painted enveloped the panelling, falling and leading the eye over the sides, yet pulled back by the magnificent use of colour. It was from this that Sophie developed the ideas for a series of flower paintings, tapping in to her desire to take a bolder more flamboyant approach to botanical subject matter. By playing around with the colour and scale the images began to go beyond the frame. The flowers started to take on a different form becoming less flower-like more dramatic, whilst retaining the decorative appeal of conventional botanical paintings.