I can't quite remember how I first discovered Sophie Abbott's art, it may have been via Laura Aziz (our own family photographer) who knew her via her kids' school or possibly from following fellow colour lover, interior designer Sophie Robinson but either way I'm so glad I did! Sophie A's work is gorgeous, I've long admired her paintings with her strong colour palette of blues, aqua, yellows and pinks. They're bright, happy, colourful and have an amazing depth, they're most often inspired by the beach, in Brighton and other places she visits such as Cornwall, I think the influence of the sea is obvious with all of the blues she uses.
Anyway, enough of me and my pathetic attempt at sounding like an art critic, haha, the exciting news is, despite her work selling awfully quickly and having missed out on paintings I liked before, I finally found the perfect Sophie Abbott piece for our home which is now proudly displayed in our newly decorated dark green living room! Our purchase coincided nicely with our 5 year anniversary of buying our house here in Uckfield when we moved down from Glasgow on the 29th Aug 2014 when I was 6 months pregnant with the twins, we bought the painting on 30th August 2019 :)
I'll share some more photos below but first I also just want to say how awesome Sophie is herself! She introduced me to fellow artist in Phoenix Studios, Antonia who also took part in my charity project, as well as recommending the shop Blackout in Brighton - she was SO right about me loving all of their colourful stock, I spent a fortune (but also wangled another project participant when I visited)!
I've had so much fun getting to know Sophie better since I asked her to take part in my Hello Yellow project for Young Minds UK, visiting her studio for the first time and seeing (and photographing) THAT insta-famous floor in our matching Salties.
I've since hung out with her and her lovely family briefly at Pride (after first viewing said painting) and had many a lovely chat with her. Sophie is so like her paintings, vibrant and fun! I'd like to thank Sophie for our wonderful new painting which I love gazing at and also for letting me take yet more photos of her floor, one of which was published on Vogue Italia's PhotoVOGUE website. :D
Some more photos taken in her studio, including one in her yellow top specifically for my charity project:
And of course our very special new painting, in pride of place above the sofa...
I now think I need some more colourful photos in the giant windowsill too and maybe a new sofa, lol!
The shelves next to it that Nik and I built using old reclaimed church pews are always getting a little makeover, especially at Christmas when I redesign them but I've recently been adding some more colour against all the dark wood and deep green walls. I think it goes perfectly next to the painting, picking out all those little dabs of bright pink and yellow and even olive green, my old favourite! I'm still playing about with what's going on these shelves in their latest incarnation. As you can see, this corner is another of Kalyan's favourite launch spots for his sofa-diving exploits!
It's just perfect, I adore it and have to say, I feel like a proper grown up owning an actual real original piece of art!
You can follow along with Sophie's work process and inspiration over on her Instagram feed and her website.