Sophie Newnham

Biography

I got back into painting in my early 20s having been advised that Art wasn’t ‘a proper subject’ at school and given it up to focus on languages. In 2000 I became ill and art became my escape, a way to express myself while absorbed in colours and paint. I began to sell my art and attended classes at the Heatherley School of Art and the Royal Drawing School, which helped me to find a style and re-ignite a love for
drawing and painting that I thought had been lost. I soon began painting in oils and went on to exhibit and sell my art in galleries and through private commission. For the last 18 months I have been teaching art to adults and children, which has developed my skills considerably and sparked a love and freedom of painting directly from nature.

I find painting a very meditative practice. Much of life is now fast paced, rushing from one thing to another.  It is rare that we make time for stillness and presence. To paint is a privilege as I am able to be still and really study and capture the beauty around me. My paintings are often botanical and large in scale in order to enhance the many intricate colours, details and beauty I see and to share them with the observer so that they can be captured in time and appreciated well beyond their fleeting lifespans.
I was delighted and touched to have been made a Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists this year. Being an artist is a strange career to have pursued, with huge upsand downs and constant doubts whether you should keep going or perhaps find ‘a proper job’.
To be recognised now by a group of artists whose work I really admire is a huge honour.

W O R K  A N D  E X H I B I T I O N S
-Bayswater Road Artist’s Exhibition 2004-2006
-Group exhibition, no.7 Gallery, Holland Park, London- 2006
-Solo exhibition, GC Fine Art, Brook Green, London ‘Flowers in focus’- 2008
-Group exhibition, The Lansdowne Club, London, 2006-2012
-Group exhibition, Arthouse 5 Gallery, East Finchley, London 2009
-Affordable Art Fair, Spring 2007, 2010, 2011
-Represented by Art* Gallery, 2011
-Consider the Lilies, Gallery 27, Cork Street, London, October 2012
-Commissioned by Cabbages and Roses, 2013, 2014
-A Decade of Expression, The Mount House Gallery, Marlborough, September 2013
-Past, Present, Future, 20th Century Theatre, Notting Hill, London, November 2015
-Secret Postcard Sale, Messums, Wiltshire, February 2018
-Holland Park Art Exhibition, The Orangery, Holland Park, London W8, April 2018
-Sky Portrait Artist 2019. On the reserved list, April 2018
-Ramsay, Ebury Street, selection of works
-A Sense of Place, Mall Galleries 6th to 11th November, 2018

C U R R E N T |  U P C O M I N G  W O R K  A N D  E X H I B I T I O N S

My work is mainly commission based with private collections in U.K, France, Holland, U.S. and Middle East.

-Collier Webb, Pimlico Road, Bloomsbury in Bloom&, May 2019
-Offered a scholarship for the Royal Drawing School Intensive Term, May 2019
-Monthly workshops at Cass Art, High Street Kensington incl.,The Beauty of Nature, Drawing the Hand. (follow ‘Sophie Newnham’ on Eventbrite or head to Workshops at www.sophienewnham.com to buy tickets to upcoming events)
-Weekly Art with Little Pics after school club at Southfields Primary School, Chiswick.
-Summer Term, 8 week course, Painting the Still Life, Mini Picassos, Kensal Green
-Plantae, The Mall Galleries, Society of Botanical Artists, June 2019
-Kensington & Chelsea Art Weekend: Botanical Watercolours with Sophie in Holland Park, June 2019
-Awarded a Fellowship by the Society of Botanical Artists September 2019
-Autumn Term, 10 week Tuesday evening course, Drawing and Painting the Still Life, Mini Picassos, Kensal Green

www.sophienewnham.com
mail@sophienewnham.com
www.instagram.com/sophie_newnham
www.facebook.com/sophienewnham.art