Julia Sorrell - Artist

My life has been a journey through art having come from a family of artists. I was embroidering at 3 and won a painting competition at 6. Painting, textiles etc. is the heart and soul of my whole self, with an endless re-examining and thinking about what I am trying to achieve. At Goldsmiths I was doing my textiles (embroidery) B.A. degree when, at 19, my father Alan Sorrell suddenly died and as a consequence I found myself ebbing towards painting. Around this time, I lodged with Betty Swanwick R.A., who was my drawing tutor at Goldsmiths. I loved her imaginative work and was fascinated watching her develop her paintings. During this period of grief, I became very productive and socially isolated drawing every evening either at Betty’s or my mother’s (Elizabeth Sorrell). I developed my painting for 2 years at home and then went to the R.A. Schools to do a post-graduate. From then till recently I drew entirely from direct observation. Occasionally I wanted to draw from my imagination but was frustrated if the work was not true to the visual world we all share and know.

Only last year something very strange occurred. Watching my grandson Renato painting unencumbered by adult self-consciousness, complexities etc. I suddenly realised he had a very precious realisation to impart. So, like him, I began to create my own visual world  and so a new chapter has begun………..