At One With Art

A yearning for emotional interaction saw Stockbridge artist Daisy Rogers leave her Foreign Office career for something more expressive

- Sandra Smith

YOU might surmise that Daisy Rogers kept her career options open while growing up. Her childhood, after all, was heavily influenced by an admiration for her pastel artist grandmother. She went on to study A Level Art and a History of Art degree is complemented by a passion for female impressionists and their determination to be recognised.

But here comes the twist. “I always thought the Foreign Office would be interesting,” Daisy reflects. “I’m fascinated in the interaction people have. I jumped jobs; I only realise now how much I needed something that gave me an emotional response.”

Meeting her husband during his International Security Studies Masters fuelled this curiosity which neither numerous house moves nor pregnancy supressed. In fact, to friends’ amazement, Daisy embarked on a PhD in Defence Studies when her first son was three months old and it was sometime later that an army wives creative workshop proved to be the catalyst for rekindling neglected skills.

“A portrait artist came in and got us drawing objects and I drew her. I hadn’t picked up a pencil in that way since school; I’d forgotten I could draw because I had been using my brain differently. This was so satisfying, it made me feel whole.”

Initially focusing on portraits of friends’ children and pets, moving to Hampshire provided unchartered inspiration and fresh subjects.

“I grew up in London, and then my husband and I lived on an army base where I felt hemmed in and was always desperate for wide open spaces. I hadn’t appreciated how beautiful Hampshire is; the open skies are really uplifting. I absolutely feel there is so much emotion in the way we interact with our surroundings and landscapes; trying to capture this is fascinating.”