MEET THE MAKER

An interview with Siân Alexia Paine

By Phil James

Founder of Siân Alexia Illustration – draws on her experiences of motherhood, appreciation of nature, and strong sense of empathy to create beautiful, often bespoke, artworks that capture life’s most personal and poignant moments.

We caught up with Siân in her countryside studio – on the border of England and Wales – to hear about her journey into the world of illustration.

  • Creative from a young age, Siân describes art as her ‘peaceful place’ – somewhere to get in the flow and feel at ease. The creative streak runs in the family, her grandfather was an artist too, illustrating packaging in the 1930s and 40s. Siân still treasures his old sketch books and equipment – ‘it’s lovely to have these sentimental objects that you can hold onto, and keep forever’ she shares.

    Siân’s creativity initially took her into the world of luxury fashion, studying fashion, design, textiles and photography at university, she landed in high-end retail management, working with Harrods and Christian Louboutin. ‘It still had a creative vibe – but it was a totally different career,’ she says, and it was only after fifteen years in the industry that she made the switch to illustration.

  • ‘It all stemmed from having my first daughter’, she explains, ‘—although with a new-born it’s all a little bit manic, I did feel at the time like I had a bit of headspace to pick up drawing again, because I kind of neglected it for years’. Initially this return to illustration was purely for the fun of it. She created some pieces for her daughter’s nursery school and shared some of her work with her friends and family – then the interest started to snowball with requests coming in for bespoke pieces, capturing family life and personal moment.

     

    ‘The main thing for me,’ says Siân ‘is that I absolutely love drawing children, and childhood – so it kind of went from there. I started sharing artwork online and realised that maybe there was a business idea there. And that maybe I could fulfil a childhood dream of using my creativity full-time’.

     

    Looking at the range of Siân’s work, you can see this organic route into illustration reflected in her art. Even though her style and experience has evolved over time, her superpower is the personal, familiar, emotional connection she has to her subject matter. Each piece feels full of care and understanding.

  • Much of Siân’s art is specifically commissioned to capture personal stories and sentimental moments – from wedding days to family portraits and baby reveals. ‘Behind every commission, there’s always a backstory – and that has really motivated me to continue with my art because I love knowing the story behind each piece. It can be quite overwhelming at times—they want this perfect piece to remember something special. Or perhaps it’s a challenging story, creating a picture of someone they’ve lost. There’s been quite a few where it’s been children or babies who have been lost, which can be quite challenging—but again, that’s the motivation that I have, to honour that. That’s what’s important to me and rewarding with my work.’

     

    This exposure to the most intimate personal stories has also enabled and inspired Siân to open up her illustrations to a wider audience, creating art prints and greeting cards that still retain the emotive hallmark of her bespoke pieces.

     

    When asked about what the future holds, you get the sense there’s a lot more to come, ‘I would love to write a children’s book – I’ve already got about five children’s books in me,’ she shares, ‘it’s just a case of getting them out! The problem that I have, is that I have so many ideas that I don’t know where to start – I would love to do a children’s book, I’d love to do lots of different books…’ Her latest range of art prints and greeting cards are hot off the press, and there’s more to come in that space, but Siân also is planning to develop her style and skillset, exploring different materials and mediums, and working on a larger scale with acrylics – all the while holding onto the types of subject and sentiments that have defined her success so far.

     

    All of Siân’s work is wonderfully relatable – something that is certainly intentional: ‘The main foundation of Siân Alexia Illustration is really homing in on connection – connections between humans, whether that’s motherhood, or parenthood, or the relationship we have with animals – all of that is kind of intertwined because all of that is what brings me so much joy’.

Coming soon - Wisque is proud to be creating a new Shopify store ready for a release of Siân's new illustrations