Local artist Sophie M Cook is part of the Floris Fine Art collective and their beautiful paintings are about to form part of an exhibition to coincide with this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Here Sophie tells SO more about her work and how you can see the Floris Exhibition in London’s Chelsea, from May 22…
Floris Fine Art is a collective made up of four artists, all of whom have a passion for painting flowers and botanical forms.
The group was established in 2021 and includes Tunbridge Wells resident Sophie M Cook along with three of her contemporaries: Rosemary Lewis, Penny German and Felicity Starr.
“We decided to get together in order to exhibit our work as a group, offering a unique and bespoke gallery experience. Our different approaches and painting techniques bring variety without compromising harmony and unity when exhibiting together,” Sophie explains.
Floris Fine Art have had their work exhibited in many spaces, including the Mall Galleries as part of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibitions, The Royal Society of British Artists and the Society of Women Artists. The group has also exhibited at various art society exhibitions including The Chelsea Arts Society, The Bath Society of Arts and The Arts Society Birmingham.
Later this month, from May 22-27, the Gallery at Green & Stone in the Chelsea Quarter will present an exhibition of Floris Fine Art’s floral oil paintings.
“This vibrant exhibition coincides with the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show and Chelsea in Bloom, which is the free annual festival produced by Cadogan in association with the Royal Horticultural Society. The festival sees the squares, streets and facades of Chelsea transformed with beautiful floral displays,” explains Sophie.
Floris Fine Art will be showcasing over 60 floral oil paintings and for this special event have collaborated with floral designer, Julie-Anne Brown, to create a themed floral installation in the gallery’s window, which will reflect this year’s Chelsea in Bloom ‘Flowers on Film’ theme.
“We are excited to be taking part in this as we are the only UK-based collective whose work solely focuses on floral oil paintings.
We are therefore on a mission to put floral work centre stage in the creative sphere.”
Sophie also reveals that Floris Fine Art will be participating in another event during Chelsea in Bloom Week – and beyond.
“We will have six of our works reproduced on a 3-metre scale covering the outside of the Old Fire Station on the King’s Road for the months of May and June. The installation is being sponsored by the Sloane Stanley Estate, which has been part of Chelsea for over 300 years and manages over 250 shops and flats in the Chelsea area.
“Since 2017 Sloane Stanley has been supporting artists in a community initiative, which allows artists to cover the Fire Station building on the Kings Road with artwork and murals. Floris Fine Art is delighted to be one of the featured artists for this year.”
Sophie says that these types of related creative projects are something the collective are happy to get involved with.
“We enjoy collaborating with florists, floral designers and growers. Last summer the four of us painted at the Kent cutting garden and workshop of Floral Stylist Graeme Corbett from Bloom and Burn. I have also painted on site at the farm of Speldhurst Flowers and enjoy painting blooms from the Bloom Foundry and Florist in the Forest here in Tunbridge Wells.”
Sophie goes on to say that she has also recently worked with Chiddingstone Castle where she has limited edition prints on display in the Castle’s Tea Rooms.
The exhibition runs from May 22-27 at the Gallery at Green & Stone.
