From October 8 to November 1, Sam Sopwith, from Candover Valley, will have 45 of her masterpieces in The Osborne Studio Gallery in London for her first solo exhibition in six years.
The exhibition, which is largely centred around animals, features a range of media, from a bronze sculpture of a lion cleaning her paws, nude sketches and landscapes, to paintings of moving horses.
Sam said: “I love what I do, I’m very lucky to do something I love.
“I never get bored of it, I keep changing but my passion is always animals, there will always be a heavy African dominance in my work just because I love it.”
Sam mostly works from photographs she has taken, but recent travels saw her travel to Africa, where she was able to sculpt giraffes and elephants live, using plasticine.
She laughed: “The elephant came up and smushed my sculpture, it did not give me its seal of approval.
“It was so fun, you just pick up something in the field that you don’t get in a studio, something extra that goes in if you’re doing it in real life.”
Her exhibition shows three years’ worth of work, and for the first time, she was able to see all her masterpieces in one room.
She said: “It’s really weird for me seeing all of it up at the same time. It’s quite satisfying, but my eye for detail will always pick up something I wish I could change.”
Looking around the exhibition, Sam is reminded of the audiobooks and podcasts she was listening to when creating her masterpieces, with one lioness sculpture sparking the memory of ‘the strangest audiobook where everyone was getting murdered.’
Sam confessed that she turns into ‘a monster’ if she’s not creative, and she finds the freedom to be able to focus on something therapeutic, stemming from her childhood love of colouring.
Alongside her passion for art, Sam also does commissioned work, with her clients including HRH Princess Alexandra and perfumer Jo Malone, although she is glad to have the freedom to indulge in her own work too.
She said: “In commissions, there’s a satisfaction of having captured what someone else sees in their animal.
“There’s a freedom in working for yourself and not to please others, and I’m lucky enough not to need to rely on it entirely.
She quoted author Charlie Macerity, who said ‘make sure you never just do commissions, you must work for yourself, otherwise your creativity will die.’
Find more about her exhibition here: www.osg.uk.com/artists/sam-sopwith/