I live on the borders of Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire in the beautiful Welland Valley.
A largely self taught artist, I have attended various short courses with some wonderful artists such as Sam Dalby, Anastasia Pollard, Andrew James and Tomas Watson in Greece.
I began painting professionally in 2020 and took part in the initiative Portraits for NHS Heroes whereby artists from all around the UK were contacted through instagram by NHS workers to paint their portraits for free in a small effort to 'give something back'. I took part in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Week on Facebook live during Lockdown, winning one of the weeks with a portrait of Clare Balding and coming third another time with a portrait of Samira Ahmed. I also had the pleasure of taking part in season 8 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2021, painting the Historian David Olusoga.
Commissions
I work predominantly in oils. Commissioning a portrait is a collaborative affair between myself and my subject and during the process I want to find out what they're hoping for and how they would like to be portrayed. I usually proceed through a combination of sittings and photographs to enable me to capture some of their character and of course a likeness! If sittings are impossible I can talk through what I might require from photographs and then agree together with them which images best represent them.
Past work selected for
Adam Portrait Award NZ 2006
Ing Discerning Eye 2020
Society of Women Artists 2021
Royal B'ham Soc. Artists Prize Exhibition 2022
Bath Society of Artists Open 2023
Society of Women Artists 2023
Joint Exhibition Skibo Carnegie Club Easter 2022
Email: ascooper88@gmail.com
Phone: 07904642244