Colourful portraits of Northampton town centre landmarks go down a storm with art lovers

A Northampton artist has brought a whole new level of colour to the town centre with her bold paintings.So

Sophie Slade has produced a series of eye-catching depictions of the town centre's landmarks for her new collection, Paint The Town In Colour.

The 23-year-old's pictures, which include the Carlsberg brewery, The Mail Coach pub and The Guildhall, have proved to be a big hit with art-lovers.

They have been snapping up originals and prints from Sophie's fledgling business, Sophie Slade Art, which she started after graduating from the University of Northampton last year.

“I’ve had so many people telling me how much they like the paintings, and the memories they have of the places I’ve chosen to paint,” she said.

“I’m now looking at expanding my range by making smaller pieces and products, such as notebooks, which I’ll sell on my website, and hopefully in local stockists, as things reopen.”

After graduating from the fine art course last summer, Sophie, who is originally from East Hunsbury, was keen to make a living from her art.

She enrolled on the university’s Enterprise Boost scheme, which helps students and graduates to become self-employed and start their own businesses and social enterprises.

Sophie attended a series of free workshops covering self-employment, business models, social media marketing, taxation and business plans.

Sophie also benefitted from one-to-one coaching, mentoring from the Enterprise Boost team and received £1,000 to put towards start-up costs.

“The Enterprise Boost scheme has been amazing. So many people graduate and want to go into business but don’t know how to do it successfully,” she said.

"But I feel with the support I’ve received, I know what works and how to give my business the best chance of growing.

“The workshops went into depth about how to sell, how to price, how to use social media effectively, and so much more.

“And to have a mentor helping me, as I try to get the business off the ground has been amazing.

"I save up all my questions I have for when I meet them, and we work through to find solutions.”