Artist Sophie Abbott is so inspired by the ocean near her home in Brighton that she’s bought a paddleboard so she can dive straight in to get creative every day.
‘It’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought,’ says Sophie Abbott as she talks excitedly about her paddleboard. While most people take up the water sport for fun and exercise, it’s added a completely new dimension to the Brighton artist’s work.
Much of Sophie’s creativity is inspired by the ever-changing Sussex seascapes. She captures images on her phone before interpreting them as highly individual abstract paintings characterised by sweeping colours and layers of paint.
‘I am obsessed with the sea,’ enthuses Sophie, who grew up in land-locked Leamington Spa before the hand of fate brought her to the south coast. ‘Last summer I got the paddleboard and to be honest it’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought – it’s brilliant.’
Sophie’s work has adorned rugs as well as walls
A friend of Sophie’s gave her a waterproof camera pouch. ‘You put your phone in it and wear it on a lanyard around your neck and hope it doesn’t come off,’ she laughs. ‘Having the bag has totally changed how I take photographs of the sea. Rather than just being on the shoreline and looking out to sea, or standing in the sea, I’m surrounded by it. So getting this bag has had quite a profound effect on me.’
She is also passionate about colour. ‘It’s an essential part of my painting,’ she explains. ‘I’m very much into how colour can evoke a feeling or emotion, and love to experiment with my use of colour. Over the years I’ve created a more sophisticated colour palette and have a much deeper knowledge of it. It’s a subject that never gets boring. I use acrylic paint as I like the immediacy of it and how I can build up layers quickly due to the drying time. After 30 years of painting it’s the paint I know the best.’
Sophie, 47, works from a studio at Brighton’s Phoenix Art Space and loves to be part of an artistic hub where ‘there’s always someone around for a natter or a cuppa’.
Inspired by paddleboarding, Sophie can’t get enough of the ocean
‘Painting is the way I relate to the world and express my emotions,’ she continues. ‘Living by the sea is integral to my wellbeing and my work. I love getting up for a sunrise by the beach or watching the sunset. Getting in the sea all year round has just become part of my life, and filming the water out to sea is my new favourite thing. When I start a new painting I may have a rough idea of what I want to create but not a preconceived image. I suppose it’s like the painting comes to me as I paint.’
It’s a far cry from her early days in Sussex as a fledgling artist when she worked in a nightclub and managed Brighton’s Lord Nelson pub in Trafalgar Street.
Art was Sophie’s favourite school subject. ‘There is some family history with art and design,’ she says. ‘My grandfather was a carpet maker and designer from Belgium who moved to the UK in the 1950s, and on my maternal side a great aunt painted pottery in the Worcester potteries.
Sophie’s work is inspired by the sea and painting outside. Photo: Jo Thorne
‘At school I loved the art room with all the still lives, the paint, the pastels and the smell of everything. It was a unique place. At A Level I had a very inspiring teacher who taught me so much. I followed that up with an art foundation course which was a brilliant year delving into all different art practices.’
Originally planning to study textiles, when Sophie didn’t secure her first choice university place her lecturer suggested she tried the University of Chichester where there were several Leamingon Spa alumni.
‘It wasn’t my plan and it was a fluke I ended up there but it was perfect for me,’ she says. ‘The course enabled me to experiment with different media and also incorporate a dance module which I loved. I also spent a term in Beja in Portugal’s Alentejo region. This was the first time I really got inspired to create work linked to the landscape. That was a turning point. Being on the south coast was also a revelation. I loved the sea and I was only a few miles from the beautiful beaches at West Wittering.’
Her trademark sweeps of acrylic paint make up Sophie’s paintings
Graduating in 1997, Sophie moved to Brighton, and painted as much as she could while making ends meet.
‘After working in a nightclub that no longer exists I went to the pub and ended up managing it,’ she continues. ‘It wasn’t what I’d expected but it was an income and flat in the North Laines and there was a tiny room upstairs where I could paint. I was part of a group of women waitressing or working in pubs and we would get together as we all had a creative side bubbling underneath.’
They included Laura Bowen who started putting on small exhibitions in cafes and restaurants to help the aspiring artists sell their work. She now runs the namesake contemporary gallery in Hove and represents local painters including Sophie.
By her early 30s Sophie had a studio on Brighton seafront. ‘Watching the sea change continually on a daily basis became an obsession,’ she says. ‘I would cycle down wondering what it was going to look like. Within an hour it could be completely different. It had a massive impact on my work, and me personally.’
She gave up the studio when her daughter Primrose, now 12, was born and returned to painting full-time when she started school. Sophie also has a 14-year-old son, Wilfred.
Actively involved in the local arts scene, including Brighton Artists Open Houses Festival, social media has also spread the word about her paintings. Sophie’s work adorns homes as far away as America, Australia and the Far East and is sold through her website sophieabbott.co.uk from £175.
Sophie’s work has sold all over the world
‘When Habitat opened their flagship store in Brighton they worked with local artists and one of my paintings, inspired by rock pools in Rottingdean was used for a limited edition rug,’ she says. ‘The drinks brand Amplify found me on Instagram and asked me to design a botanicals-inspired label for their non-alcoholic spirit.’
Elsewhere, her work has been transmitted into homes around the country through TV shows such as The Great Interior Design Challenge, Interior Design Masters, Ugly House to Lovely House and Best Home Cook.
‘A lot of these shows need artwork on the walls but the budgets might not stretch to buying paintings so they hire them,’ she explains. ‘Often the homeowners will then want to invest in a piece.’
During lockdown, when the Phoenix Art Space was closed, Sophie expanded her repertoire by heading to the countryside.
‘A friend of mine does a lot of painting in woods and he suggested we meet up and paint outside and that’s how I got into it,’ she said. ‘I probably wouldn’t have done it if lockdown hadn’t happened. I’ve painted in places like Hollingbury Wood, Ringmer and Glynde. It’s a different way of working. In summer you have to work quite quickly as the paint starts to dry so it’s been a good thing to get my teeth into and just try something different.’
While Sophie remains ever mindful of not losing her phone in the sea, she wants people to dive into her work.
‘My aim is to intuitively create a world that you can get lost in, but return to again and again and discover something new or familiar,’ she concludes. ‘Somewhere the viewer can lose themselves for a moment in time.’