Sam Toft News

The antics of our canine companions, and the outpouring of love we have for them is a joyous thing to behold, as are the many depictions of our puppy pals the art world has to offer. From Pablo Picasso’s delightful depictions of Lump, a frolicsome Daschund with whom he had a wonderfully fond friendship, to more contemporary compositions, our pampered pooches prove just as popular on canvas as they are in our homes.

With the globe’s leading brands each recently announcing their ‘color of the year’ for 2023, its looking as though we are going to be seeing a shift away from 2022’s calming green and lilac themes and a move towards a selection of warmer and more invigorating hues. The popularity of the ‘maximalism’ decor trend could have something to do with this. It is set to continue into 2023, and its focus on bold patterns and highly saturated colours seems to have influenced the colour choices for this year ahead: taking a walk on the more wild and vivid side.

If you know that your loved one is a book aficionado, especially one who dotes over the cover artwork of their favourite book (or even one who pick books based solely on its design), then why not get creative and buy them a piece of art that matches their literary sensibilities? This blog will give you a few pieces to help inspire and excite you for the holiday to come!

We are thrilled to have launched 7 new limited edition prints by the hugely popular, often imitated but never duplicated Sam Toft. She says of her soulful and idiomatic pieces...

The colours of the autumn season are a rich collection of deep red, warm ochre, and scorched amber hues. These burnished colours, along with the drop in temperature and changing flora and fauna of this time of the year, have the ability to conjure up a host of feelings within us, like nostalgia for days gone by; collecting conkers and walking along leaf strewn streets whilst trick-or-treating, a sense of anticipation for the upcoming winter festivities and cosy nights by the fire, and a wistful recollection of the days of summer as we bid them farewell until next year. It is not surprising, then, that autumn has long been a source of inspiration for artists.

With its warmer weather, trees vibrant with leaves, and a bit of time off from theworking week, the summer season has proved to be a great time to practice a bit of self-care. If you’ve relished the opportunity to indulge in a little ‘me time’, why not continue your practice into the cooler months, when we often need it the most.So, what can we do to promote a little tranquillity in our lives, and can ‘art’ help to induce a sense of relaxation? There is certainly some testimony to suggest so.

As we make our way into the temperate month of June, let's take a look at 5 décor trends tipped to be big this summer. 1 - Limitless Luxe Pinterest summarise the Limitless Luxe trend as a way of introducing a little luxury into the “least-expected corners of your home”, so that every nook and cranny radiates luxe, and even the utility room or under-stairs study area are filled with opulence.

When browsing through the beautiful paintings and drawings featured in our online gallery, you may have noticed that some original artwork is described as created using 'mixed media', but what does this actually mean? Mixed media visual art is essentially the combining of two or more media or materials, and can take numerous forms, but can be broadly categorised into five types:

From ongoing pandemics to heart-breaking conflicts and rising heating costs, it has been yet another shaky start to everyone's year. But we're now nestled in the warmest month of spring, and hopefully many of us can look forward to brighter days to come. Joyfully, May kicks off with the feel-good observances of Global Love Day and World Laughter Day; both falling on the first day of the month.

We spend a lot of time carefully perusing paint swatches and flicking through fabric samples to find the colours that are 'just right' for our homes, even finding ourselves revisiting them and redecorating only a few years later.Not only do we make colour choices to reflect and help communicate the way in which we are currently feeling but we might also choose specific colours to influence how we aspire to feel.

In modern Britain the more often, and more commercially, referred to 'Mother's Day', is the fourth Sunday of lent and was traditionally known as Mothering Sunday. It has been observed by both Christian and Roman Catholic Churches since the Middle Ages and the UK is even believed to be the first country in the world to have dedicated a day for mothers.

You may have experienced the power of a piece of music, a film, a photograph or painting to make you feel something, from joy or despair to excitement, and even distaste. Indeed, it is frequently argued that the generation of an emotional reaction is fundamental, and even the reason for, creating art. Aesthetic responses to art have historically been considered basic stimulus responses, but more recent studies, in which celebrated art historian Alexander Nemerov has been involved, suggest that these emotional responses are actually more complex.

In recent months, after an arduous couple of years of museums sitting empty when the world was plunged into a communal lockdown, a number of high profile figurative art exhibitions have popped up in galleries and institutes around the globe. This has brought about a resurgence in the prominence offigurative art in popular culture...And the trend is set to continue in throughout 2022 in locations including London's Tate Modern, The Metropoloitan Museum of Art, Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria, and Florence's Museo Novecento.

There are some big things happening in the UK in 2022... The events calendars in Britain are starting to look a little more 'full' after a couple of years of non-events and cancellations. Not least is the “blockbuster” four day Bank Holiday weekend from 2nd - 5th June, in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. After, on 4th February this year she became the first British Monarch to celebrate 70 years of service.

Celebrated every February 14th, Valentine's Day originated from the Christian feast day of Saint Valentine, a Roman Empire clergyman who, on that date, was martyred and buried in a Christian cemetery on the Flaminian Way. Although he died in 260 AD, it wasn't until 496 AD that the Feast of Saint Valentine was observed, and even later still (around 1000 – 1250 AD) before it became associated with the tradition of 'courtly love'.