Today we have a biography blog written by talented artist Sheila Roper, enjoy!
I’m a self- taught artist living in Suffolk and first discovered naïve/folk art on a family holiday to Stowe in Vermont back in 1997. A book store in the village had a wonderful selection of art by various American folk artists, including Grandma Moses and Linda Nelson Stocks. I was captivated by the paintings, most of which told stories on canvas of rural life in gentler times.
Several years later I started painting the four seasons in my own folk- art style. I worked purely from my imagination and particularly enjoyed working on the snow scenes.
Our family has always loved France. Our first holiday back in the early 80’s was a trip to Carnac in South Brittany and since those early days, we’ve had many lovely French holidays. So when “Escape to the Chateau” started I, like many others, became a huge fan of the show and looked forward to following the adventures of the Strawbridge family. I then decided to paint a snow scene of Chateau De La Motte Husson. This was my first “real” home as I usually painted imaginary buildings. Unbeknownst to me my son-in-law sent the painting to Angel, several emails followed and I was thrilled when she chose it as one of the Chateau Christmas cards in 2019.
Chateau de Brametourte
I then challenged myself to paint many of the chateaux from the spin-off series Escape to the Chateau DIY. Each one is very different in size and style and for the first time, I had to really concentrate on the architecture. I was absolutely amazed by the response from the chateau owners and several commissions followed.
I’m really enjoying this new chapter in my artistic life, it’s pure escapism for me. I would never have imagined that when I first started watching Escape to the Chateau that I would make so many new friends and that it would have such a strong influence on my artwork.
Chateau du Doux
Sheila has graciously shared with us some of her château folk art paintings, such as Château de Brametourte, Château de Lalande and Château du Doux. You can find out more about and follow Sheila on her Facebook Page.
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