A Putney artist unveiled her first nude collection at an Earlsfield restaurant last weekend.
Jamie Malpass-Wright, 33, revealed her new paintings at the Open Page restaurant on Garratt Lane.
Her latest work is her first nude collection, focusing on celebrating body positivity and self love, using bright and bold colours.
She said: “Many people, I find, are so critical of their bodies which is just really wrong.
“Our bodies are amazing and yet we constantly cover up our bodies and especially as women I think we tell ourselves we’re not good enough.
“I think painting something like that is very empowering, it’s a way to celebrate your body and to reframe your mindset from something negative to something positive. And it’s a celebration of who you are.
“If you think, a female body can bring another life into this world, it’s amazing and we should celebrate that.”
Jamie won prizes for her art at school and supported herself through a languages degree by painting portraits on commission.
But life moved on as she started working full time, and she went almost 10 years without painting.
She said: “It got to the point where my husband didn’t even know I could paint.”
But it seems all Jamie needed was time to return to her passion, which lockdown provided.
Starting with portraits of friends and family, she took up painting again.
She said: “It was just an experiment but then I was really surprised by the amount of people who contacted me after my painting of the nudes, and I had a lot of people who from that first painting were asking me if I was interested in doing commissions of nudes.”
Posting her work on Instagram, Jamie found photos pouring in.
She told her clients she would paint whatever they were comfortable sending her.
She said: “I can use my imagination, or I’m happy to paint it a complete nude but it’s always sophisticated.”
Her art can be seen at the Open Page, a new restaurant in Earlsfield that takes pride in supporting local businesses. Whether it’s the food chain or the decor, everything is from London or as close as possible, according to manager Dom Withers.
There are about 15 pieces on display from three artists but Dom said he has no plans to stop there.
He said: “Let’s keep it alive. There’s a couple of prime spaces in the middle of the bar, [I want to] keep them changing over.
He said the Open Page had even helped sell some works, although was vague on prices, saying he puts customers in touch with artists.
Anyone interested in Jamie’s art can find prices on her website which vary based on the size of print.
