We’re all made of stars, interwoven and infinite

Tuesday, 06 October 2020

Gallery Beautiful chats with resident fine artist Sonya Rothwell about Art as a spiritual alchemy and the divine dance of bringing inspiration into form. Sonya’s celestial works are now available as museum quality affordable art prints from the gallery.

Gallery Beautiful.om

WHAT DO YOU PAINT ?
My work explores energy, spirit and human connection. I paint empyrean consciousness expressing itself (or huge iridescent abstracts oils of the cosmos). Like galaxies, each work is made up of interconnected canvases – individual parts of the whole, intended to scatter like stars across our sphere. ‘We’re all made of stars, interwoven and infinite.’

I also like to weave kaleidoscopic dancing lines with abstracted painterly strokes and expanding pools of brilliant colour. Drawing from my own life, the people and things around me, I stripe my subjects bare, leaving behind only their essence.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR APPROACH TO YOUR WORK. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT ?
I see art is a spiritual alchemy, the divine dance of bringing inspiration into being. I create from the heart by going within to the source of my inspiration. I call it ‘cosmosis,’ – subtly absorbed minglings with universal forces. A Heavenly Cosmosis.

WHAT TECHNIQUES DO YOU USE ?
Artistic creation is a journey into the unknown; a divine dance. It’s a blending, merging, swirling, unfurling into form. As I go within and get into the flow – a calm, intensely focused state – I allow a new dance to begin.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘WITHIN’ ?
I paint from another place – where I go, I couldn't tell you. I 'drop down' there by letting go and stepping away from myself, but in that place, I am more myself than anywhere else. To borrow from Poet Laureate Pablo Neruda; ‘While I am creating I am far away, and when I come back I have already gone’.

IS MEDITATION PART OF YOUR PROCESS ?
When one practices stillness and presence life becomes a walking meditation; everything flows. Our inspiration, intuition, inner voice, guidance, whatever you like to call it, gets louder the quieter we become – by quiet I mean calm and still inside.

SO YOU’RE NOT EASILY DISTRACTED ?
To be an artist requires immense self discipline and focus. There’s no room for distraction when one’s in the flow. Ideas are drawn to inspired action like fire flies fluttering against lit glass, all wanting to come in at once. Most lose patience and drift away, leaving only the very persistent ones to become.

WHAT’S YOUR CREATION PROCESS ?
My process of painting in oils is very physical. Working on the floor, my hands move quickly around the canvas, smearing, smudging, dripping and splattering, as melding pools of iridescent colour alchemically paint themselves. They’re created in just one session, so the work retains a freshness, immediacy and magic – once the spell’s broken the artwork is complete.

When drawing I like to imagine that my hand is a blade of wild oat dancing in the wind. This helps the lines to be light, loose and free.
It’s important to relax and just let it be what it wants to be. Don’t think about it. Just place your attention in your heart and enjoy it.

WHAT MATTERS TO YOU CREATIVELY ?
Passion is integral to my process. Art, when created from the heart, is never mediocre. One must throw oneself wholeheartedly into creation.
Dive in head first, naked. Float and frolic in its foam. Swirl in its glittering streams of sunlight and swim around its silken depths. Then behold what emerges.

WHO ARE YOUR GREAT INFLUENCES OR HEROES IN THIS SPHERE ?
Mother Nature and her ever changing beauty. She’s the greatest artist there is.

YOU USE YOUR PAINTINGS TO DESIGN HOME FURNISHINGS. TELL US ABOUT THAT.
I use my paintings to create mandalaesque designs which I apply to various surfaces. Like space, my creations expands in all directions, off canvas onto clothes (I’m wearing one of my hand-painted vintage dresses at the moment!), ties, scarves, cushions, fabric, wallpaper, lampshades and interior décor accessories, blurring the boundaries of art and design. Also available from gallerybeautiful.om

TELL US ABOUT YOUT LATEST PIECE OR PROJECT.
There's a huge gap in the art market for high quality affordable art prints. Most décor companies sell mass produced ‘art’ in the form of low quality posters that are poorly printed and don’t even have artist’s signatures, stamps and certificates. Traditionally quality fine art prints are sold in low editions at high prices which is not accessible to most people. Taking an inclusive approach to contemporary art, Gallery Beautiful is bridging this gap without compromising on quality.

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of new eclectic collections of my work as museum quality affordable art prints available from gallerybeautiful.om


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For press enquiries and high res images please contact:
news@gallerybeautiful.com
For general enquiries please contact:
alchemy@gallerybeautiful.com
+44 (0) 1225 635 443

THE ARTIST
Sonya Rothwell creates from the heart seeing Art as a spiritual alchemy – the divine dance of bringing inspiration into being. Her oil paintings of empyrean consciousness expressing itself (from which her décor designs are derived) are created by what she calls 'cosmosis' – subtly absorbed minglings with universal forces. "We are all made of stars, interwoven and infinite.”

THE DESIGNER
British artist designer Sonya Rothwell is recognised as a prolific creator of highly collectable, contemporary bespoke statement pieces infused with spirit. Renowned for her signature aesthetic ‘Space Age Glamour’ – celestial motifs, intricate pattern, shimmering pearlescent texture + kaleidoscopic colour inspired by her oil paintings of the cosmos. Sonya's eye for style, colour, composition and extensive knowledge of print is built upon many years as a designer, art director and fine artist following her formal arts training at renowned Central St Martins, London.

THE ALCHEMIST
Sonya Rothwell is Alchemist-in-Chief of Gallery Beautiful – an eco-ethical art + design house renowned for its award-winning art, luxury décor and home furnishings. Available from the gallery (by appointment only) which is situated within her beautiful grade II listed National Trust home surrounded by an enchanting National Trust garden in Wiltshire. And online at GalleryBeautiful.om

INSPIRATION
Being a nomadic free-spirit ever in search of colour & culture Sonya loves adventure. Her urge to leave no stone unturned regularly steers her off the beaten track allowing for sacred time out to also journey within – the source of her inspiration and essence of her work.
Wanderlust abound, she climbed the Himalaya to Heaven (known as Swargarohini in Sanskrit; Swarga meaning 'Heaven' and Arohini meaning
'ascent’) to reach for the stars from the highest place on Earth, as she made her own journey to Swarga.

INTEGRITY
Sonya Rothwell art + luxury interior accessories are eco-ethical, sustainable and made to order encouraging people to #BuyLess. Their sales support Sonya's umbrella charity Temple Beautiful – a centre of spirit; the arts, meditation, wellbeing + higher consciousness – helping deprived children live better lives. Formed from her desire to, as Gandhi said, ‘be the change’ she wishes to see in the world and empower many of the beautiful children she meets on her travels.
TempleBeautiful.om

JOIN
Tribe Beautiful – a global community of magic makers; conscious co-creators restoring our beautiful world. As the Dalai Lama says; “The planet doesn’t need more successful people, it desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.”
Create an account to receive 15% off your first purchase site wide at TribeBeautiful.om


For press enquiries and high res images please contact:
news@gallerybeautiful.com
For general enquiries please contact:
alchemy@gallerybeautiful.com
+44 (0) 1225 635 443