Daisy Sims-Hilditch is a portrait and landscape painter based in London. She is a keen advocate of plein air painting and is best known for the way she interprets light with her brushwork.
From an early age, Daisy’s work has been recognised by the UK’s most prestigious art awards.
At 18, a portrait of her grandfather, My Grandpa, was selected out of 18,000 entries to exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery as part of the Sunday Telegraph’s Art Prize.
At 20, a portrait of her father, My Father sparked a bidding war at her very first auction, going for the same amount as a painting by Ken Howard, an early mentor and one of the country’s most established modern and contemporary artists.
Daisy travelled to Florence and studied intermittently under Charles H. Cecil where practiced sight size portrait painting.
She proceeded to exhibit in the BP Portrait Award 2016 with her portrait Alessandra exhibiting in the National Portrait Gallery.
In 2017 she won the Golden Buzzer Award at the Fine Art Commissions Exhibition for her painting of the Thames, Early light on the Embankment. Daisy's work hangs in respected private national and international collections including those of influential art commentators and advisors Philip Mould and Rhod McEwan.
The growing recognition of her work in the art world and beyond has resulted in a number of successful solo exhibitions as well as exhibiting at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Royal Society of Marine Artists, The SWA and The Royal Society of British Artists where she recently won the coveted Gordon Hulson Memorial Prize for Excellence in Draftsmanship, Variety and Exploration. Daisy recently featured in Tatlers “Contemporary artists to watch”.
Daisy is represented by the Portland Gallery in London and is currently preparing for her next solo exhibition there in December 2024. Last year she held the gallery space for 2 months with her exhibition “Into the Light” with 65 paintings hanging. She spends her time working on portrait commissions in her Chelsea studio and often travelling to find inspiration for her landscape work wherever the light takes her.
Daisy’s portrait “Ausra” exhibited at Philip Mould Gallery for the duration of the Masterpiece London Art Fair 2022.
Philip Mould who is a leading specialist in British Art and Old Masters recently described Daisy as “an extremely versatile painter in the landscape and portrait traditions working both in plein air as the Impressionists before her and in the studio on ‘sight-size’ portraits of remarkable naturalism and elegance. Stylistically her handling of the medium is both painterly and refined in its application. In this respect she is an artist who understands how to control and manipulate paint in order to achieve portraits of astounding intimacy and beauty”.
“It is light that excites me and drives me to pick up my brushes and paint. My paintings are a celebration of light and I am fascinated by exploring tonal relationships in order to express the particular light effect before me. I like to paint solely from nature and in natural light. I work on the spot and enjoy being in the elements to capture what I see and get across the mood of the place. I am obsessed with capturing the light and atmosphere of the landscape and to do this I love to tackle the outdoors in every season”.
Daisy Sims Hilditch
For information about commissions or purchasing Daisy's work, please click to get in touch with Daisy.
