Oscillating between Provence and Lisbon, Florence grew up in the South of France and has her warmth infusing her work. She trained for two years in painting and drawing in Florence, Italy, then continued with a trimester at the Royal Drawing School in London. She has recently been gaining recognition with the BTA First Prize, the Jacksons Longlist, and a feature in Faire magazine. Several exhibitions are up-
coming for summer 2026 in Provence, as well as a residency in Malta. In her studio in Lisbon, there is a profusion of local scenes and French delights. Florence aims to depict intimate scenes of daily life and honor places and crafts falling into oblivion.

Your work carries a distinct emotional atmosphere. How do you translate internal states into visual form?
When creating a body of work, I choose to paint places that have touched me and depict scenes that have resonated with me. I strive to represent on canvas feelings of comfort, home, or a specific time of day, such as waking up in the morning. I also enjoy recreating some of my favorite activities like hunting for treasure at the flea market or choosing the perfect table at a café en terrasse. People often tell me they can imagine climbing into a painting, which is a great compliment, and that the scenes remind them of their childhood homes or favorite things to do.

There’s an intimacy in your compositions. What role does vulnerability play in your practice?
I try to honour places and activities that are perhaps overlooked in our busy lives.These are spaces that are not usually displayed for viewing, yet in which we spent great swathes of our existence : an unmade bed, morning light on a bath tub, a sink we wash all our dishes in. You are peering into someone’s intimacy and private life, a vulnerable side of us which is usually hidden.This allows imagining yourself in the scene, a transportation towards something familiar yet foreign.

How do you approach the balance between spontaneity and control when creating a piece?
Creativity for me happens within a structure and routine. There are several stages to it, and I try and keep them as rigourous as possible to avoid wasting time and energy, as well as the meltdowns and spirals of self doubt. I try to get all the preparatory work done beforehand, prepping large numbers of canvases and boards, with a full arsenal of paint and brushes ready to go. I need a clear head and an unbroken empty amount of time to create calmly and get into a flow. The first rush of a painting happens quickly and is very enjoyable.Then follows figuring out the image, defining and organising it to match what I hoped to convey.The finishing is the part I have to be the most disciplined with myself for, it requires focus and will. Often I will come back to a piece later on and add a detail or change a small something.  As I paint in layers, the pieces need time to dry in between, which I use to refresh my eyes and clear my thoughts. Gathering inspiration and ideas is something I try and constantly be attuned to in my daily life, as well as setting out moments to wander aimlessly finding scenes that catch my eye.

In your view, what is the relationship between the body, memory, and image in your work?
One of my recurrent subjects are living spaces.There aren’t usually any bodies in them but it is implied one has just wafted out of the scene, leaving a smoking cup of tea, a still warm bed and a bubbling pot on the oven. I have a strong tie to nostalgia and disappearance, so memory is a primary component in my work. When I paint I feel I manage to freeze time in an image, and when looking at a painting even years and years later can teleport instantly to where and when it was done. It is a form of remembering intensely captured it on canvas, and gives it a strong recall power in my memory. I paint also to suspend the city against gentrification, to honour old shopfronts and sights which are being erased. Often there is a theatre in the theatre component where I make an image of a tile, a particularly beautiful sign or a pattern. 

Your palette and textures feel intentional yet instinctive, how do you develop your visual language over time?
My visual language combines many different themes and patterns which circle back over time. I have become more attune to what I am attracted to and am curious to see certain motifs already appear in my work ten years ago. I suppose the one rule is to practise and produce constantly. That way you can hone in on what really interests you and positive response to pieces tends to happen the more authentic the pieces are.  I have certain colours like yellow, or patterns such as tiles, that feature again and again in my work and that I’ll always come back to, which form my visual identity.

Do you see your work as narrative, symbolic, or purely sensory  or something in between?
My work aims to be a slice of life, and combines parts of all three. It is symbolic in its subject matter as I am nudging the viewer and saying look, this is important, However there is space left for the observer to create their own narrative, using their personal references and imagination.. who has just emptied this bed, what comforting meal is simmering in the background I hope to elicit memories and sensations while the onlooker plunges into a scene.

How does your environment, both physical and emotional, shape the energy of your work?
My surroundings are my main subject and so of uttermost importance. I am inspired by what is in front of me, and will be deflated and unstimulated in a sterile or monochrome situation. I often paint my mothers house, or my own, and both are filled with objects that end up in my paintings. My studio is also set up like a prolongation of my house, so I am continuously surrounded by items and images that spark my imagination, like a theatre’s prop house. These are all places I feel comfortable, loved and in my element, and I hope to translate that onto the canvas I have to be feeling good to paint, and try to avoid any mental turmoil. Even if the subject is very energetic like a market scene, or a kitchen, it feels exciting rather than draining if I am on form.

Looking ahead, what new directions, mediums, or ideas are you interested in exploring?
I am delighted to have two exhibitions coming up this summer in Provence The spaces are on a large scale and will allow me to present a broad kaleidoscope of subject matters, as well as being able to explore a variety of sizes, including some very large ones. In September I head to Malta for a residency and exhibition, and am eager to explore a new unknown terrain, excited for the unique island light! Next winter I hope to take on a project I have been contemplating for a few years and do a series of large scale nocturnal fishing scenes.