About
Born in London, 1970. Sophie’s parents relocated to Somerset and then Swanage, Dorset where she grew up, the eldest of seven siblings.
1986 – 1988 BTEC in General Art and Design, Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design
1988 – 1992 BA Hons Fashion and Textile Design, four-year sandwich course, Central St Martins
1991 Selected to live and work in New York for three months designing prints for womenswear at the Style Council as part of college sandwich course
From 1993 Sophie has worked full time as a painter, illustrator and textile maker designing cards, gift wrap, tableware, posters, jigsaw puzzles, wallpaper, needlepoint designs, calendars, diaries, colouring-in books, prints for womenswear, tea towels and homewares for the UK and internationally.
Clients have included Marks and Spencer, The Art Group, Friends of the Earth, Nigel Quiney, Dunoon, Woolworths, Ladybird Books, Artists’ Cards Ltd, Rosenstiel’s and WHSmith.
Illustrations for children’s magazines include Learning is Fun, BBC Pets, Toybox, Brownie, Guiding, Girltalk and a Ladybird book, Goodnight Little Bunny.
Sophie’s paintings have been shown in galleries around the country since she was sixteen. Current galleries include New Craftsman Gallery, Birdie Fortescue, The Byre Gallery, Avalon, Square Gallery, Gallery Tresco, Mulberry Tree Gallery and Nadia Waterfield Fine Art.
Since acquiring a rescue whippet four years ago, Sophie has worked with Just Whippets Rescue designing bestselling Christmas cards, gift wrap, crackers, Christmas decorations and tea towels especially for the charity.
Inspiring artists include Milton Avery, Mary Fedden, William Scott, Klaas Gubbels, Etel Adnan, Bonnard, Ken Done and Matisse. Sophie’s work is all about simplicity, harmony, balance and colour and the feelings that colour evokes by its interaction and the possibilities to glow, clash or sing. Working mainly from life and sketches and occasionally photos she paints moments from her life: a collection of objects in the home, seasonal fruit and flowers, a morning spent on the beach or at a Cornish garden. By simplifying objects and scenes she aims to create feelings of joy, escapism, calm and stillness with a focus on the small and simple joys in life.
Sophie lives in Penzance and works at home in her tiny studio, five minutes away from the seafront.