We Made Love Prints With the Legend That Is Sophie Tea

She’s been disrupting the art industry ever since her glitter boobs went viral at Coachella back in 2017. Since then, Sophie Tea has gone on to carve a distinctive gallery-less career, selling her artwork exclusively on social media and accruing a legion of devoted fans and collectors from around the world in the process.

Second only to commissioning her to draw us like one of her French girls, painting abstract love prints with her was a peak lockdown / Galentine’s activity. A peak life activity actually, if we’re going to be pernickety about it.

Clad in her epic neon green overalls, Sophie Tea, the woman, the myth, the legend, walked us through her technique and then we were left to express ourselves. Gulp. Easier said than done when you’re in the presence of the OG glitter-boob tycoon and one of the most in-demand artists of our time. No pressure.

An hour later and there we were, covered in paint splashback and exhibiting our hearty creations on Zoom for peer-to-peer validation like we were holding up baby Simba for the whole kingdom to see. It was the most momentous occasion of lockdown 3.0 so far and we’d quite like to share it with you.

You’re now cordially invited to the team Zoella X Sophie Tea exhibition.

Lareese

Evidently, I’m no Van Gogh but that did not stop me from going ham with the paintbrush. I have vivid memories of me, aged 10, sat in my bedroom having just spent my £5 pocket money on a set of watercolours from Sussex Stationers, using an old kitchen sponge to paint a tree. I was in my absolute element and I think my mum hung that painting in the kitchen by the calendar for about two years. That was probably the last time I painted – that sounds like a tragic opening of a memoir but it’s true.

Armed with my Sophie Tea kit, water for the paintbrushes and a glass of flat prosecco for me (for creative fuel, obviously), we started our Wednesday night art class.

Lareese

You’d think it would be somewhat – difficult – to fluff up a heart shape alas, mine looked more like a butternut squash than a beautiful beating ticker on canvas. I’ve got previous when it comes to disfiguring shapes though, so at least I had managed my expectations. If you think my heart’s bad, you should see the state of my stars. It’s like looking at a pissed sorting hat. Nevertheless, she persisted and with a few top tips from Sophie, I added a sh*t load of white paint to resuscitate it. Kinda.

In true Sophie Tea style, there’s a hidden message in my masterpiece. What can I say, there’s a reason it looks like a sea of pizza. Bids welcome.

Huge thank you to Sophie for being nothing but the 11/10 art teacher, boss and all-round babe you’d expect her to be, even if I did singlehandedly ruin the movement, ha! There’s no-one else I’d rather send my nudes to.

Danielle

I absolutely loved sitting down and doing a bit of crafting with the team! I’m quite rubbish and spending time on anything that doesn’t include a screen at the moment so it was such a nice moment to actually do something tangible I could concentrate on.

Sophie is such a great teacher, and makes what she does look incredibly easy but let me tell you it’s no mean feat! I Loved hearing all about how Sophie became the artist she is today, the work she does with nudes is incredible and she shared some lovely stories from women who sent her images of their bodies for her work.

Creating the heart was definitely one of those projects that came together at the end! I felt like it was terrible but kept going and part of what makes Sophie’s work so engaging is the layers and layers of colour that goes into it. I love that she can leave something for the evening, let it dry, then alter it the next day by adding more, I was always under the impression if you messed up with something like that you’d have to start again but instead it all just becomes part of the process.

Painting really invigorated my love for a bit of crafting so I’ve since purchased some clay and made some candlestick holders I’m going to paint with my Sophie Tea colours.

Danielle

Darcey

I’m no painter that’s for sure and also very bad at doing things in a ‘messy’ style or abstract! I absolutely love Sophie Tea’s style of art and have been a fan for a while so I was super excited to get an art lesson from her via zoom! She was so, so lovely and funny too, I loved hearing about how she got to where she is today and her pathway finding love for art.

I spent the majority of the zoom thinking that I’m absolutely doing it wrong and that my technique was less than to be desired, but actually, I’m quite fond of the final outcome and think I might frame it!

I loved getting a bit messy and taking a step back from my screen to do something arty, it’s actually inspired me to buy a few more canvases and get painting more often!

Darcey

I left the Zoom with a newfound love for painting and my desk covered in paint splats, whoops ha!

Maddie

I have been a big fan of Sophie Tea since meeting her at an art show over 2 years ago in London. She was incredibly warm and lovely and her studio was top to toe splattered in multi-coloured paint. At the time she was creating a lot of abstract pieces but now she paints anything from bees and butterflies to hearts and most recently the female form, her pieces are simply gorgeous and definitely a lot of fun.

Charlotte

This was such a wholesome midweek activity and I’m so thrilled I have paint left to continue this arty pastime as lockdown drags on. I haven’t painted with acrylics probably since year 11 art GCSE so it felt really nostalgic and weirdly comforting to be doing so again.

I was just as much of a novice as I remembered but the act of mixing colours, adding different brush strokes and making some attempt to map out a design was really therapeutic. If I was to work on my piece again I think I’d focus on fewer colours and emphasise the brush strokes as I think this is one of the most beautiful things about Sophie’s work- the depth but also simplicity.

The paint splatting was definitely a highlight and somehow I managed to avoid making too much irreversible damage to my carpet haha!

Charlotte

Holly

The Sophie Tea workshop definitely reminded me of my love for painting/all things crafty! I mean I’m not going to be an artist anytime soon but it was still great fun. I even brought some canvases after the call so I could try out some more this weekend.

I found it very therapeutic, I got my wine and just had fun. I’ve never explored the idea that art can be imperfect but I think that’s why it was so therapeutic, I wasn’t worried about it going wrong because there is no wrong.

Purchase your very own heart print from Sophie Tea herself in her latest release here. But be quick as her the limited edition runs sell out quick!