Sophie Glover x Balans

We have been working with an up-and-coming young artist called Sophie Glover to create some new Balans-esque artworks. She’s just completed her amazing illustration for us, so we wanted to delve a bit further into her as an artist and how the process developed for this piece:

What is the history of your practice and what work have you been making?

I draw and paint from my studio in South East London. It’s been an exciting journey; when I first came back to London after studying in Cornwall I made observational drawings in other artist’s studios and workshops. Travelling around the country and then the world I got fascinating glimpses into different ways of working – capturing them all with quick, layered, line drawings portraying movement and details of the artist’s rhythm. This quickly became my style and I have been working like this as a drawer ever since, capturing the process of making for Vogue, Ottolenghi, Cubbitts, Winsor & Newton and P.Franco alongside many others. Restaurant kitchens are my new favourite thing to draw as you have such wonderful conversations with the chefs about their craft and get to sample their creations!

This last year my studio has been filled with rocks, herbs, resins, and flowers for around two hundred botanical illustrations I have been making for Jo Malone. Alongside this, I have a quieter practice of painting; making work about rocks and women.  This work varies hugely in nature; from a residency on a far-flung rock in the middle of the Baltic Sea to commissions by the Tate Britain. My last show was at the Camden Arts Centre led by a residency at the Slade and I am currently working on twelve oil paintings about the women around me that I will be exhibiting in the Autumn.

What do you want your artwork to portray & say?

I want my drawings to depict the moving world in a static image as well as give little insights into all the makers around us from chefs to potters, butchers to painters. I love details and hidden secrets so look out for those! My paintings on the other hand are more personal. The ones I am working on now are about love, longing, and loss reflected through the eyes of the women around me.

What was your thought process & inspiration for this drawing?

I was really excited to be asked to make this drawing for you and wanted it to have a cheeky edge that I associate with a good night at Balans! Perhaps, drawing at the end of lockdown, I was reminiscing about the early hours of a slightly debauched night but what immediately came to mind were the twining and writhing figures of the 19th Century Romantics’ paintings.

I made sketches directly from these paintings; the dramatic Classics, and then dressed them up as if we could stumble across the characters at Balans. Finally, I added lots of fun details and naughty twists to weave it all together!

Check out her insta HERE