Biography
Sophie J. Brown
Born in southern Scotland in 1961, I subsequently spent a memorable rural childhood as one of 4 sisters in South West Ireland, where my father worked as a potter, painter and interior decorator and my mother as a weaver. We returned to England, to suburban Lincolnshire in 1970 before moving again to North Devon 2 years later. I began drawing and painting in Devon as a teenager, initially copying old master drawings, then depicting the village environment, portraits of my family, the countryside and interiors.
Fine Art Education
My formal art education began with an 'A' level and then a Foundation
Art Course at North Devon College. I then studied for a joint Masters
Degree in Fine Art at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Art College from
1980-85. Here I learnt art history and developed observational drawing
skills through regular traditional life-drawing practice. After graduating,
I returned to North Devon, teaching art for a short time at Diploma level,
ran art evening classes, and managed the development of an art and craft
community venture for 2 years. Following this, I returned to drawing whilst
doing a variety of jobs including portrait modelling and designing wildlife
gardens for schools.
Landscape and Graphic Design
I studied Landscape Architecture and was fortunate in being
awarded a scholarship to study for a Masters Degree in Landscape Design
at The University of Manchester from 1988-90. There followed a decade
of work in landscape architecture, with its emphasis on 3D design to create
real environments, backed up by drawings (initially by hand, and since 2000 almost entirely using Autocad and computer software) as a vehicle for visual and technical
communication. I worked for a number of private and public landscape practices and currently continue this work part time.
During this phase, I also developed and trained in a range of computer-aided graphic design skills and designed posters, leaflets, logos, a magazine and web designs for the interest groups I was involved in to satisfy my continuing need to work more obviously with colour, shape and composition in 2D work.
Gold Leaf Designs
During 2002, I set up Gold Leaf Designs as a creative vehicle to explore art and design in a range of media and to reorganise my working life to create space for this. I initially concentrated on producing fine art paintings, collages and graphics.
Along this journey, my creative output and energies have recently become more focussed on developing a bespoke, original website design service, where I am enjoying working with a range of clients to bring clarity and vision to their web presence and supporting them to showcase their work.
© Sophie J. Brown