About Sophie Mahir

Sophie was born in London in 1967, but brought up in Forest Row, East Sussex. She was educated at Michael Hall Steiner School where she gained many exams including Art & Art History, and Commerce.

During 1986 Sophie started up her own business in hand-knitted jumpers, after demand for her one-off pieces had accelerated. But after a while her desire to paint again took precedence and she enrolled on an intensive three-year course studying Colour, Painting, Drawing, Sculpture and Art History at Tobias School of Art, East Grinstead, Sussex. She graduated in 1990 with a Degree level qualification in Waldorf Steiner Art Education.

Sophie then continued to run her successful knitwear business, as well as teaching painting privately, getting married and bringing up her two daughters.

She moved to Brighton in 1994, and later took the post of Art Teacher at the Brighton Steiner School where she taught for seven years. Over these years it became increasingly difficult to maintain her own painting development as well as progressing her students. So in 2004 she left the school to concentrate fully on her own work.

Having moved out of Brighton to Newhaven with the idea to provide an 'Open House' showing her work in conjunction with both the Brighton Festival and Artwave, Sophie soon discovered many other artists living and working in the town. After much hard work Newhaven has its own Arts Trail of which Sophie is the founder.

Taking her inspiration from her surroundings, both past and present, Sophie works from home in her studio overlooking the South Downs nearby the river Ouse, and regularly walks along Newhaven Quayside and harbour. Sophie's fascination with boats and sea-side buildings stems from a childhood spent escaping to the Suffolk and Sussex coast from her then home in the country.

Sophie's training means she concentrates on getting the colours right first, and the composition evolves out of the colours. Compositions arrive from a collection of sources, sketches, memories and sometimes photographs. Sophie's chosen media is acrylic paint because she likes the quick drying time, meanings layers can be applied quickly one on top of the other. She uses a palette knife sometimes a 'retarder' or medium, and enjoys building up a rich tapestry of colours and textures.

Sophie's paintings explore the shapes, structures and geometry of buildings, boats and waterside objects, often distorting and changing the angles making the onlooker see things from all different view-points.