[www.sofistudio.com]

Sophie Barnard was born in St Lucia, West Indies and divided her early life between there and the UK where she was educated.

After a childhood obsessed with art , winning a number of junior competitions and talking her Art A Level at age 15, Sophie"s attentions moved to Literature and she studied English at the University of Birmingham.

Sophie relocated back to the West Indies permanently following her degree but it wasn't until after the birth of her daughter in1997 that her attentions returned to painting.Winning the award for Best Newcomer at the Caribbean Craft Association Fair in 1999 and in 2000, she exhibioted her painted carvings at the Ecole des BeaxArts in St Etienne, France Sophie's recent work has seen her develop a distinct and unique photorealistic style which concentrates on the constantly shifting interplay between light and shadow and the intensity of natural colours in her beloved St Lucia.