Daisy Sims-Hilditch and Raoul Orzabal
Portrait and plein air landscape painter Daisy Sims-Hilditch and her muse Raoul Orzabal, both 30, have known each other since they were babies. Both artists now occupy studios in the same Chelsea building – and when inspiration strikes, Orzabal is always ready to sit for Sims-Hilditch as she paints. “We’re very much like brother and sister. Our parents were friends and we went to school together from when we were quite young until we were around eight,” Sims-Hilditch explains. “Until I was chucked out,” Orzabal adds, hinting at the difficulties he has faced due to Asperger’s syndrome and dyslexia. The two went their separate ways, Sims-Hilditch eventually studying art in Florence before returning to London in 2016 and reconnecting with her childhood friend. Both had embarked on a journey as artists – hers classical in its genesis, his more conceptual – but it was Orzabal with whom she wanted to share a studio space, and she wasted no time in painting him.
