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Sarah-Marie started painting on commission in the late 1980s.
Her earliest paintings were of offshore racing powerboats.
She had work displayed at the London Boat Show.
Clients included Fiona, Countess of Arran, the Toleman twins
and the then Chairman of UKOBA (United Kingdom Offshore Boating Association)
Clients have included FPD Savills, Hamptons, Lane Fox,,
Wessex Frame Buildings Ltd and Browns Estate Agent as well as many private clients.
Her artist's impressions have successfully supported planning applications
and been used for advertising on hoardings and in brochures.
She is a member of The Society of Architectural Illustration.
After receiving a commission from Perry Press of Pereds in 1994
to paint a wedding present for David Gilmour and Polly Samson,
she went on to paint a few pieces for the couple
including a highly decorated cot for their first baby.
This cot made an appearance in Blood Roses in the Snow (from Lying in Bed).
Sarah-Marie was delighted to receive a copy of the book from Polly.
She was also asked to paint their wedding present for Phil Manzanera.
Her animal portraits in soft pastels or painted in watercolours give a traditional feel.
She also produces striking modern portraits in acrylics.
They become a very personal representation of home, family and surroundings.
A map of Turtle Bay, Kenya included a Father Christmas on a camel and
the orphaned young elephants from the Elefriends Project.
Poems and names are woven into the drawings.
She has been asked back year after year to Bedales Junior School, Dunhurst.
Here she has co-run the successful Art and Drama Workshop
alongside Jenny de Jongh and Annabel Munn.
She has been Artist-in-Residence and presided over art weeks.
She was described as "calm amid the chaos" on an art week for over 300 children!
She has also privately tutored children.
Over the past few years she has had the privilege of painting for
Her paintings are displayed at Bickleigh Barracks, Stonehouse Barracks
and in private collections.
The life of a commissioned artist is never dull and work appears at the oddest times-
as a teenager waiting on the docks for a powerboat race to start, a powerboat racer
who was standing on his Class 2 catamaran called to Sarah to paint his boat,
"Yes, of course!" She shouted back,"We'll talk after the race."
"But you'll need money....for paint and stuff!" he yelled over the roar of the engines and
with that, unzipped his racing overalls and pulled out a roll of notes peeling off
a few twenties and passing them up, much to her bemusement.
Always discreet with her clients wishes and protective of their privacy,
a number of them are in the film and music industry,
Sarah-Marie builds good working relations with them.
On an invitation to a lunch with clients she decided
not to tell her children quite where they were heading off to.
On the way up the long winding driveway,
her son noticed the security cameras hidden in the trees.
"What are the cameras for?" he asked
"They're great animal lovers, they're filming the squirrels" she replied.
Sarah-Marie's painting career so far has been extremely varied and exciting.
Long may this continue!
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