D a i s y H a r c o u r t
B i o
I am inspired to create drawings mostly through my engagement with art, music, film and literature.
Over the last few years portraiture and pattern have been my focus; currently I am drawing people’s faces more than ever before. I love the challenge of creating a portrait, I aim for a drawing which is recognisable and to create something where the character of the person will coexist with my impression of that person.
Fictional characters are particularly interesting to create because I can imagine that person from many perspectives, the writer’s, the reader’s and other characters in the book.
During my career as an artist I have worked on commissions for portraits, card designs and pattern designs.
My work has been been commissioned by Eiderdown Books, Canns Down Press, Chichester Festival Theatre, Weald and Downland Living Museum and Oxford University
T i r z a h
Modern Women Artists
In 2022 I created illustrated portraits of artist Eileen Mayo (book 8) potter Lucie Rie (book 9) and artist Tirzah Garwood (book 10) for Eiderdown Books . Eiderdown Books is an independent publisher making books about Modern Women Artists written by leading female writers, art historians and cultural commentators.
Women & Word
Female writers and literary characters feature in this portrait series. Link to an interview with me during the exhibition of this work at Weald Contemporary in October 2023 below.
Mrs Dalloway
W o m e n & W o r d portrait series no. 3
In this portrait series I invited writers, poets, a stone carver, zine maker, journalists, poets, a teacher, a lecturer and a curator to write about their connections to word. I drew a portrait of each sitter whilst considering their writing; the portraits and written pieces were exhibited and produced in a book.
P e o p l e & P l a n t s portrait series no. 2
This portrait series was on show at Oxmarket Contemporary in April 2022, a book that accompanied the series is available to buy through the Oxmarket.
Each very generous sitter has talked about their relationship to plants, from formative experiences to their current involvement and passion for plants.
Women & Water portrait series no. 1
G a l l e r y
G a l l e r y
When I left home, one of my most treasured possessions was a picture of my grandmother, she was about the same age as me at the time, a smiley 20 year old, sitting on the beach with her mother, father and sister. This photograph was and is, a little window into the past, it embodies for me a beautiful, fleeting moment. I aspire to create portraits that possess these qualities.
Artist Spotlight
Interview with Manderley Press
Extract (for full interview go to link below )
Is the house in Sea II inspired by an actual building or place?
I have very happy childhood memories of family holidays on the Devon and Cornwall coast; although not an actual building or place, the scene perhaps represents those places.
Selection from Small Paintings series created in response to ‘places I miss’.
Sea
Chapel
Vale
Little Church
Cliff
Coast
Portraits of Women Artists
Tirzah Garwood
Gwen John
Gertrude Hermes
Eileen Mayo
Barbara Hepworth
Laura Knight
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