Furloughed Sussex man rediscovers his talent for art

Thirty-three-year-old Lawrence Smith works as an entertainments reporter for Sussex Newspapers but was furloughed in April.

Since then he has created some stunning artworks of birds and animals which have drawn much public appreciation.

Lawrence, who lives in Storrington, works for the Eastbourne Herald, Hastings Observer and Sussex Express and previously worked for the West Sussex County Times, Crawley Observer and Mid Sussex Times.

“When I got furloughed I realised that I needed to do something that kept me busy and took my mind off of the Covid-19 outbreak,” said Lawrence.

“I also wanted to do something that kept my mind sharp so that I didn’t become lethargic or depressed.

“I decided to pick up painting and sketching because I’d taken A-Level art as a sixth-former at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College from 2003-2005. I enjoyed the subject a lot and found it really engaging but I dropped it to take English at Sussex University from 2005-2008.

“I drew bits and pieces during this time but when I started working in the newspaper industry in 2009 I stopped painting altogether, even as a hobby.

“I thought it would be difficult to start painting and sketching again after more than a decade, but it was surprisingly easy to get back into.

“Some of my early efforts near the beginning of April weren’t very good, but I quickly got used to the process of looking carefully, mapping out the image I wanted to draw, and gradually building it up with the correct colours, tones and brushstrokes.”

Lawrence prefers to sketch in pencil or paint with watercolours as, he says, “these two mediums allow me to have a greater level of control over the picture. They let me work quickly but still allow me to give the image a lot of character and a sense of depth. It’s also easy to blend watercolours into each other, which is great when you’re painting something like a wolf, which has an amazing variety of subtle colours in its fur.

“I try to make my paintings fairly lifelike but my style is naturally expressionistic and I love using brushstrokes to capture the texture and sense of movement in an animal’s fur or feathers.”

He added: “I hope that the world and society can return to normal soon because I miss working and I miss the structure that work gave each day. But, for the time being, I’ve found a great way to structure my days around painting, which engages my creative side at the same time.

“Once this pandemic is over I will definitely continue to paint in my free time.”

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