One of Claire Harrison’s earliest memories is following her father around with a miniature wheelbarrow to give him a hand with the gardening.
‘I helped out to the best of my ability, although I doubt if I did much helping,’ laughs Claire. ‘But it wasn’t long before I got my own trowel and started growing mustard and cress on the shed windowsill and asters in a terracotta pot.’
At the age of three, Claire’s small hands also got to grips with a paintbrush after her mother invited her to choose a flower so they could paint it. Both of these experiences fuelled her enduring love of nature, plants and insects that are a constant in her work.
‘I remember drawing continuously and creating my own cartoon characters of animals, mainly hedgehogs and rabbits, and creating stories about them,’ says Claire, 45. ‘All of this was pre-school. My mum taught me the names of all the flowers, butterflies and birds so I could identify them. When I started school I couldn’t spell my name, but I could identify local wildlife. I got very little art tuition and did most of my learning outside school by just looking, copying and using my watercolours.’
‘I think the biggest things that inspire me are the large skies, with dramatic sunsets over the rolling fields and wildflowers on the verges,’ says Claire, who works from a studio at home. ‘We’re lucky enough to live on a farm and the wooded areas have lots of bluebells and my . favourite flowers, ox-eye daisies. I frequently walk in the surrounding footpaths and photograph flowers I find for inspiration. During autumn and winter, I love to walk between Henfield and Steyning to see the beautiful floodplains around the Adur River with the South Downs as a backdrop.’
Growing up in Hampshire and moving to Sussex in 2009, she says there was never a defining moment when she decided to become an artist.
‘It was more that it was always assumed I was an artist and that was what I would do,’ explains Claire who graduated with a Fine Art degree from Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College. Within two months of leaving university in 2001 Claire applied to a nearby arts centre for an exhibition, despite having virtually nothing to display.
“I had very little work to exhibit in a solo show and I didn’t have a studio, so I couldn’t paint anywhere,’ she says. ‘But one of my tutors wanted to buy my photographs, which I was selling in the local department store where I worked. So I began planning a photography exhibition, but wanted to digitally manipulate them as I had done at university.’
As well as producing a volume of work, the other challenge was being able to fund it so soon after leaving university.
‘I applied to the bank for a loan for a home computer, which wasn’t the norm in those days, and Photoshop software,’ says Claire. ‘I also went on a course on running your own business and nine months later I had a show with 40 digital artworks. It got lots of positive press and Farnham Maltings, where I was exhibiting, offered me a studio and artist residency and so my career was born.’
Claire’s work is as detailed as it is painstaking. Her creative process begins with photography, including taking pictures of garden flowers she has grown especially to paint.
‘I often document their lifecycle through photography,’ she continues. ‘I will then study these shapes and forms. I like to experiment with materials to discover which one will best suit the subject and my ideas. Oils are vibrant, watercolours soft and vulnerable, pen and ink concentrate on the forms and shape. I like monoprinting, a technique where I use inks and paints to create natural textures and forms as a background to some of my paintings. This technique creates only one, unique print. I also like layering different medias for mixed media artworks. I then work on the composition, often from my imagination, and those I feel are successful will go forward to be a final piece. This process takes months, so each week I draw from observation, experimenting with new ideas for the next painting.’
Claire’s typical day begins with a cup of tea, reading a book and then some exercise which can be meditation, yoga or archery. She then heads to her studio surfacing only for lunch and, sometimes, a walk.
Away from her art, Claire has made a big impact on the local archery scene with a passion that grew out of a celebratory get together for Jon.
‘I organised a big birthday weekend for him with friends which included archery and axe throwing,’ she says. ‘The axe throwing was very difficult but we both took to the archery and joined our local club, Adur Valley Archers, about seven years ago and I really got into it.’
So much so, Claire gained gold and silver medals at her first competition, has won six county championships - including the Sussex Ladies Barebow Outdoor Championship four times in a row from 2021 to 2024 - and is a qualified archery coach.
‘I think it’s incredibly important to give back,’ she says. ‘In over 20 years of supporting students I have had so many say to me, “I love art but my art teacher told me that I’m not that good”, or something similar. One comment from an art teacher has affected their whole life of creativity. We are all creative and we can all enjoy accessing that part of the brain that gives us complete relaxation and freedom, which is very similar to meditation. I’m passionate about helping these individuals and helping their creativity.’
Claire recently became a member of Artists Against MND, an art auction platform dedicated to raising funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND) which affects the brain and spinal cord.
Her work was spotted by Artists Against MND co-founder Richard Brailsford, who told Sussex Life, ‘A friend of mine, who also has MND, asked if we had any artists in Sussex. I said no, and then spent hours reviewing artists. One who stood out was Claire. Her work is unique and I love to study her art and find the subtle images and meanings.’
Claire, submitted six paintings, with 100% of the proceeds of one and 50% of the others going to Artists Against MND. ‘It is such a devastating illness that I am proud if my little contribution can help others,’ she says.
Elsewhere, Claire sells her work through exhibitions, including a recent group show at Horsham Museum, and her website. Drawings start from £100, limited edition prints from £150, watercolours from £300 and oil paintings from £800. She also produces a range of cards and items including notebooks, cushions, clocks for sale on sites such as Redbubble and Fine Art America.
‘I started doing cards over 10 years ago as galleries would sell them when they had your work,’ she says. ‘Sometimes people would buy a card or print and in time go on to buy an original. Then you get customers who have walked into a gallery and bought all my original paintings on display. You can’t predict how and who buys your work.’
Claire is currently working on a series called Portrait in Nature.‘I firmly believe that humanity needs to live at one with nature and care for it on an everyday basis in order to halt the environmental crisis we are facing,’ she says. ‘If we thought of ourselves as nature, we may be a little more conscious of how we treat the natural world around us and having a better chance of halting climate change.’
