"Fun and Games" 2024, is my brand new collection of original artwork which launches 13/04/24 with an in-person exhibition in Southsea, Portsmouth. I hope you enjoy reading about this collection and the vision behind the artwork.
Overview:
“Fun and games” is a collection of paintings depicting various activities, games, sports, and the like, using this imagery as a metaphor for a season of life. The paintings together form a story that shows what it’s like to become engaged, to be part of something, to actually find enjoyment from life itself.
What urges me to paint is the desire to find a solution for an unresolved question in my mind. I have the need to put an image to the things I cannot understand, and actually through painting these feelings and questions, I find a resolution. Sometimes the resolution is a literal answer to a problem, and sometimes it’s just a sense of peace, and an ability to move on.
I started this collection by painting experiences and feelings that I wanted to have in the future, rather than what I was experiencing either in the past or present, which has been the way with other projects. This helped me to fix my eyes on positive aspects of life, and the possibility of change and hope for what’s to come. All these things I painted with longing at the start of this collection, have now become my present reality. As I created these snapshots on canvas by painting, I was also creating it in my actual life without even realising it. This is the power of creation. What we think on, and set our mind on, truly becomes our external world.
Reaching the end of this collection, I am not where I was before. Rolling the dice, taking risks, taking a shot, moving on, removing the fear of failure, giving things one more go, not taking life too seriously, taking part… these are the themes of this collection. I hope that you can connect with what I’m trying to convey, and through my efforts to put images to my thoughts, you would find your own resolution by engaging with this work.
Behind the scenes:
For many of these paintings, I already had clear visions for what I wanted to create before I started, which meant for most of these, I took my own pictures so that the artwork would feel like mine, from start to finish. These pictures below show the work in progress, as well as the photography that I used for reference photos.
Creating imagery with lego pieces.
Southsea beach
Photographs taken of games, including monopoly, dominoes, chess etc.
Behind the scenes - the evening sun lit up the painting
"Roll the dice" on the easel
All the originals, as well as prints are available to purchase online - click the button below to shop.
Thanks for reading!
Sophie x