Artworks - Stephanie Andrew

Stephanie was born in Farnham in 1973. She attended the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in 1989 where she took a foundation course and gained a National Diploma in Design. She went on to Camberwell College of Art, leaving in 1994 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and Graphic Design. Since graduating Stephanie has worked as a decorative artist for a leading design company. Over the last couple of years she has developed her interest in botanical art to which she now brings a contemporary slant. For inspiration she travels to the great gardens and flower shows of the UK. From Wisley to Kew Gardens, from Chelsea to Hampton Court. She captures the flowers and landscapes in her sketchbook and with her camera. Her paintings are produced back in her studio in Hampshire; working mainly in acrylics. Since becoming a homeowner she also grows flowers from seed in her small garden. She finds inspiration from the many forms and colours found in plants and flowers - particularly the exquisite and complex patterns within petals. Composition plays a crucial role in her work, the dynamic of the space surrounding the subject - its placement on the canvas - play an intrinsic part in the final painting. Using the contrast between the colour and form of the flowers, with the purity of the white background she produces beautiful, contemporary paintings which provoke a feeling of calm and tranquility. Stephanie is the great-granddaughter of Arthur Comfort who was a member of the Halifax Art Society. He joined the Graphic School of Wood Engraving and worked as an engraver on the journal, The Graphic. He was chairman of the International Society of Wood Engravers. He was also renowned for his watercolour paintings and his work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. He was an accomplished flower painter.