Poppy Ellis is a contemporary British artist, she lives on the edge of the English Channel in a windswept corner of Kent. Ellis grew up in Sunderland and studied Illustration at Newcastle. She has worked as an art director in publishing, packaging and food styling. Poppy's style layers painterly and abstract with graphic elements and patterns. Ellis loves colour and the joy that brings, Smartie blue, peppermint, bubblegum and sherbet lemon abound.
Poppy's sensuous use of paint and wonderful consistency of quality make her a natural successor to the early 20th century colourists-she identifies herself a 'new colourist.' 'I am an observer of faces, if I’m looking at you quizzically it’s not because you have crumbs in your beard, I’m looking at the planes and the nuances of light as it plays across your cheekbones and upper lip.
I record moments of bewilderment, joy, defiance and internal dialogue. Catching these fleeting, candid moments unobserved, I am a stalker of character.'
Poppy's vibrant portraits draw on a huge cross-section of old and modern masters, but perhaps the strongest comparisons are Matisse, Soutine and Cezanne. Ellis worked as an art director in London for many years and has now traded in her train card for her studio which she shares with her husband and two barky dogs.
