Artist Spotlight: Charlotte Sorapure
/ New English Art Club
Visit Mall Galleries to see the New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2022 which showcases the very best in figurative, observational and painterly work in the UK.
Mall Galleries spoke to Charlotte Sorapure, a member of the NEAC, who has two wonderful paintings on display in this year’s show. Keep reading to learn about her inspirations, artistic processes and the stories behind her work.
Are you able to tell me about your artistic background, what draws you to painting and your desire to visually record the world around you?
After doing a BA in Cheltenham, I was lucky enough to get a place at the Royal Academy of Arts, at a time when the importance of drawing was still recognised as a fundamental means of exploring the nature of all visual relationships and ideas. The atmosphere was one of quiet intensity, helped no doubt by the awareness of the Academy’s heritage, as well as the presence of Norman Blamey RA. To this day, I appreciate his profound understanding of form and structure, which proved so helpful.
Painting, as a form of artistic expression, still intrigues me even after all these years. The possibilities are infinite and so much can be inferred by a gesture, a passage of light across a form or a particular colour palette.
What influences and inspires you, and who are your favourite artists?
There are many varied and disparate artists that I draw inspiration from - Winifred Knights, Stanley Spencer, Richard Eurich, Botticelli and other Renaissance painters. A recent trip to Madrid has filled my head with lots of images, ranging from Bosch’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’, Zurbaran’s ‘Angus Dei’ and Velázquez’s ‘Las Meninas’ to the delicacy and precision of Holbein’s portrait of King Henry 8th.
But for me, ideas and influences can come from many directions, including geometric patterns and designs of Islamic art, as well as both Persian and Indian miniatures.
What is your artistic process and how do you go about planning and creating a piece, and what are your favourite materials to use?
As drawing helps ideas to evolve, I usually begin by making preparatory compositional studies, looking at the placement and relationship of intervals, shapes and rhythms. Colour is another factor to be considered, and even when working from life I will extrapolate from what is seen, conscious of the fact that different tonal schemes or colour themes evoke different moods.
I work in a variety of media, although chiefly in oil paint. Due to the extraordinary versatility of oil paint, amendments and alterations can be made indefinitely, without any time constraints, allowing greater freedom to consider one’s thoughts and actions.
'Spring' Charlotte Sorapure NEAC. 35 x 40 cm (54 x 59 cm framed) £4,250
‘Spring’ is a really beautiful landscape with striking layers and depth, created through the use of cool colours in the floral foreground, contrasted with the brighter oranges and green in the background. Are you able to talk more about these stylistic choices, and the inspiration behind the piece in general?
The painting ‘Spring’ came about from noticing one of those extraordinary moments, where something is transformed by light. As the fading sun hit some trees beyond a corner of our garden, it gave them the appearance of being set alight. This was enhanced by the cool shadowy forms in the foreground. Although the painting is modest in scale, the paint is quite thickly and broadly applied, for the most part with a palette knife.
Are you able to talk about the objects and their composition within ‘Night Still Life’?
As I tend to work quite late into the evening, ’Night Still Life’ gave me an opportunity to carry on work once all natural light had faded. I spent some time lighting it and setting up the objects; ever conscious that a still life painting begins long before you put paint to canvas. The painting is mainly about composition and I was trying to achieve a sense of harmony and relationship, between seemingly disparate objects.
There was something so satisfying about painting the different facets and planes of the various objects; each one an entity with a quality or character of its own yet connected, comprising a sort of ‘family’.
'Night Still Life' Charlotte Sorapure NEAC. 61 x 46 cm (78 x 63 cm framed) £8,250
Your work often features floral and natural elements - what draws you to nature?
Since moving to Bath twenty years ago, the garden has increasingly formed a symbiotic relationship with my painting. Gardening experiments, triumphs and failures are akin to that of painting, so the relationship feels very natural. There is also historical precedence in art, of the theme of the private, enclosed garden (hortus conclusus) - a place of reflection and seclusion. Nature, with its constant life cycles, also gives so many opportunities for metaphor - keeping us aware of our own transitory and ephemeral nature.
Have you had any particularly interesting commissions or projects you have really enjoyed working on?
A recent commission gave me a chance to create an expansive composition, based on studies and drawings made in Granada, Spain a few years ago. Commissions vary from studio work, in the sense that there is 'a brief'. For all concerned, it is best if the artist can pursue an avenue they find stimulating. The constraints can actually help produce work that might not have been considered before, so can be extremely interesting and rewarding.
With this commission, the aim was to create a colourful, uplifting landscape that the viewer could enter and travel through, including aspects of Islamic Architecture and the formal gardens of the Alhambra. After making several compositional studies looking at the placement and relationship of intervals, shapes and rhythms, the final drawing was transferred to a four- by six-foot canvas. I worked on it for many months, subtly altering and shifting elements in order to emphasise and best express the atmosphere.
How has being a member of the New English Art Club benefited you, can you speak of the community this has created?
Being an N.E.A.C member has brought me into contact with many like-minded artists, which is obviously of huge benefit, as the life of an artist is normally so solitary.
Do you have any advice for emerging artists?
The NEAC Annual Exhibition opens on Thursday 23 June and runs until Saturday 9 July but as well as visiting us in person, you can also browse and purchase the work online. We hope you enjoyed learning more about Charlotte and get a chance to see the astounding array of work this show has to offer!