Pippa

| Sarah Seymour

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Pippa’s Story

It was a pleasure meeting soft-hearted, gentle cocker spaniel Pippa for a June photoshoot in 2015. Afterwards, her owners also sent pictures of how she looked as a puppy, and the result was two portraits of her, one as a youngster, and one as an old lady.

Six months later, I received a call from her hum an family, explaining that Pippa had recently developed terminal bone cancer behind one eye, which, tragically, will have to be removed. I was touched when a family member kindly phoned me and said they were glad they had got her portrait done before her diagnosis, and commented that they remembered I had gone to a lot of trouble to get her eyes right.

In these paintings, Pippa is remembered as the family knew and loved her for so many years.

Coming Soon – Fifty Faces

| Sarah Seymour

To celebrate my 50th birthday in March I will be starting a challenge to do 50 portraits over the course of the year. I am not sure quite where this will take me but I think it will evolve into a mixture of faces seen in the mainstream media and out of it. I will be looking for variety in features and life stories and hoping to learn a bit about techniques of portraiture on the journey. Watch this space for the unveiling as it goes and count with me as I aim for my target over the next twelve months.

If you would like to participate in the project as a model please contact me!

Lola

| Sarah Seymour
Lola
Lola

Lola is a miniature schnauzer full of character and energy. I was uncertain how long it would take to do the initial photo shoot for her portrait but she amazed me by standing absolutely stock still when her owner asked her to stay and she did not budge while I wandered around her with my camera taking shots from all angles. We allowed an hour for the photography (not all dogs are as obliging!) but in fact it was all over in five minutes.

“Lola” is a 40×50 cm oil painting on a box canvas.

Chilterns Landscape

| Sarah Seymour

One of my most enjoyable commissions so far. A family of 5 requested a large painting of a Chilterns landscape, with them in it, for their living room wall.

They supplied a photo of the scene, but as it was taken on a dull, grey day, the colours were very muted. The brief was to jazz up the colours and give it an autumnal feel. I also had to add the whole family plus dog!

The wall it was destined for was painted a bold ‘heritage’ red, so the canvas had to work both in terms of colour and dimensions.

Discussing the size with the family took some time, but we eventually settled on a large 90 x 60cm box canvas.

I took a bold approach with the colours (possibly inspired by the dynamism and energy of my clients as well as the wall hue). I added a windblown sky, full of light and shadow, and simplified the shapes of fields and trees, creating them out of large blocks of intense colour. Dark shadow tones were employed to add depth and drama.

 

If you too have a favourite place, why not ask me to do a personalised picture of it for your house?

Christmas Gala on 6th December 2015

| Sarah Seymour

Caversham artists and friends will be holding a  Christmas Gala on the 6th of December 2pm-6.30pm at St Andrews Hall, Albert Road, Caversham, RG4 7AW.

You will be able to buy local and handmade arts and crafts for those precious Christmas gifts with refreshments in aid of The Ways and Means Trust.

I will be selling paintings and Christmas cards and taking orders for gift commissions.

Hope to see you there!

Caversham Artists and Friends Christmas Gala 6th December 2015
Caversham Artists and Friends Christmas Gala 6th December 2015

Stockholm

| Sarah Seymour

Well it is challenging working in the dimly lit garret in Stockholm and I stupidly omitted to actually pack a palette and the cheapo brushes I brought justify the price…but it is jolly pretty out here in autumn. Glorious sky and golden leaves either clinging on to skeletons of trees or falling in patches on the ground.

 

With the pink church in the background I couldn’t resist the symbolism of three foreground trees just losing their final leaves and stretching the metaphor just a bit the black lampposts with their drooping clusters of spherical orbs look on seriously a little back from the middle tree.

Pink Church in Stockholm

Sketch of church in Stockholm

Sketch of church in Stockholm