Living in London, in the most beautiful home and studio I have ever made, I work internationally, travelling, meeting and painting the portraits of absolutely fascinating people. I cherish the serendipity, the freedom, and the privacy of the way that my work comes to me by word-of-mouth recommendations.
I am a born artist. I can really see where combinations of light, shape and colour can turn the ordinary world around me into subtly and exquisitely beautiful pictures, and I see it everywhere.
My whole family are writers and artists. My grandmother was the writer Mary Norton, best known for her children’s classics The Borrowers and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. My parents, Peter Rush and Caroline Lucas, are artists; they met at art school, so making art all the time was normal for us as children, and all three of my brothers—Joe, Sam and Ben—are professional artists. We call it the family trade.
Human beings have always been my subject. I have an intrinsic understanding of, and an affinity with, the human face which is as strong and as subtle as the artistic instinct in me, and I can see the best and the beauty in every face. There is a deep interaction between me and the face I am painting which makes the portraits more than just a likeness; the whole real person is there in the canvas.
Together with these insights, the painting techniques that the Great Masters have taught me, and many years of experience, I have been brought to a place where I am making my very best work.
One of my first memories, at about the age of five, is of running into a room and seeing a jar of daffodils sitting on a dark wooden table. Bright morning light was streaming into the room and bouncing the yellow from the flowers onto the table as a glow. It was so beautiful it stopped me in my tracks.
From that time on, my everyday life has been interrupted by visual ‘flashes’, where I can see pictures—when light, shape and colour have spontaneously combined in a way that makes the ordinary things and people around me suddenly, quietly and exquisitely beautiful. These glimpses into the supreme are so joyous that, from those first moments, I have consciously developed this sense. I look for it everywhere, and I arrange things around me in such a way that they touch a sweet spot deep inside me.
Leaving school far younger than would be legal now, I went to New York with my father for several months. Free to follow my own instincts, I explored the city alone and on foot. Trawling the galleries, I discovered the work of the Magnum photographers and saw how a whole story could be told in a single picture that was so visually beautiful it was breathtaking.
Back in London, inspired by what I had seen and through a series of very fortunate right-time, right-place, right-person moments, I was drawn into the world of fashion photography as a stylist, which suited me perfectly. I spent my twenties flying around the world on photographic shoots with some of the leading fashion and advertising photographers of the time, dressing the models, and choosing locations and props.
Perhaps it was the maturity of my thirties, while living and working in São Paulo, Brazil—now as an art director (which is a whole different story)—or simply the stimulation of living in a country where everyone is making art, that the true independent artist in me began to emerge.
Feeling a longing to draw, I would go to Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo and quickly sketch people as they walked. I felt complete, as if a missing piece of me had been found. It was a wonderful place to start; Brazilians love artists, and a small crowd would gather behind me and discuss my drawing. They liked it—I could hear them say, “muito bom”.
Encouraged, and for the first time since my childhood, I picked up paint and a brush—and fell overwhelmingly in love with painting. It felt entirely natural to me, and I knew that this was what I was born to do.
I felt a compulsion to follow this path and explore where it could go and, having inadvertently won an international award for art direction in Brazil, I decided I could take a break from earning a living. I gave myself six months entirely dedicated to painting. I needed to find out whether I could be good enough to become a professional painter—I learned a great deal.
Returning to London as a struggling painter was frightening, and I had to bump along the bottom for a while. Again, with chance, a bit of humility, a lot of hard work, and the encouragement of my friends and family, I kept going.
I love the work of the Old Masters, and I aspired to use their extensive and almost lost painting techniques in my own work. I learned how by scrutinising their paintings in galleries and reading their words in dusty old books. I am passionate about depicting the texture of fabrics and the translucency of skin as they did so beautifully. Although I have grown into my own methods, these masters taught me how to paint.
I do owe a great deal to that first career. I learned discipline, how to focus my vision, trust my instincts, and identify beauty—and how to take strong reference photographs and design my portraits so that everything—the setting, the pose, and the style—comes together and pertains uniquely to the person I am portraying.
The process is straightforward and flexible. I want you to enjoy the experience of having your portrait painted by me.
Firstly, we discuss the context and the size of your portrait. I will then give you a quote, and we can agree a schedule.
If you would like to proceed with the commission, half of the fee will be payable. I have a draft commissioning agreement that we can use if you require.
The next step is a meeting in your environment—wherever in the world that may be—or in my studio. I will design the portrait in my head, where everything—the setting, the pose, the light, the colour, and the style—comes together and pertains uniquely and beautifully to the person I am portraying, and I will take my reference photographs.
For the full portraits, I would like your feedback on the choice of face references. This is such a personal aspect, and I want to use an image that we both really like.
During the painting process, I would like to see you for a sitting in my studio for about an hour, so that I can see where I am with the work, and I am very happy to hear your feedback. The final touches will be done at a last sitting to complete the portrait. The portrait will then be professionally photographed, signed, and presented to you.
If you are not able to come to my studio, the sitting can be done at the end, when I deliver the portrait to you. At this point, the second half of the fee is paid.
My clients are based all over the world—mostly in the USA, Hong Kong, and India—and I love travelling, so the international aspect works beautifully. I can combine your portrait with other commissions and Talks that I am giving in your country, or I can come especially for you.
The process is the same as in the UK; the only difference is that I come to you, and the final sitting is done at the end, when I roll up your portrait, put it in the hold of a plane, re-stretch it on landing, and deliver it to you.
Please let me know if you would like to meet when I am travelling, and we can arrange it.
Portraits and quiet portraits of you or your loved ones are painted to commission. Prices are based entirely on the time it takes me to paint them.
The very fine quality of the facial features in the full portraits takes time; the quiet portraits are smaller, looser, and quicker to paint.
There is a price list for portraits, quiet portraits, and works for sale, which I would be happy to send you.
The studio is very near the American Embassy in Nine Elms, London.
Please contact me to arrange a visit and see what’s currently on the easel. I’m very happy to take a break, have a cup of tea with you, and discuss all aspects of the work.
Telephone: +44 (0) 7973 326 508
Email: fanny@fannyrush.com
Instagram: @fanny_rush