SOUTHSEA ARTIST BRINGS THE PAST TO LIFE THROUGH HER PAINTINGS Kate Thompson
C
asting around for inspiration one day, Fizle Sagar hit upon the perfect way to bring the past to life. Initially an exercise to keep her artistic muscles flexed, her talent for taking tiny black and white photos and bringing the subjects to life with a muted palette has brought commissions to her door.
“It’s not always possible to be able to draw from life, so that’s when I started looking at old black and white photos. “Some of them are tiny only an inch by an inch and a half, but if you look closely you can still bring that person to life.
“I started painting quite late as I was in my fifties. I enjoyed taking classes and attending courses — and I soon realised that I enjoyed painting people’s faces and capturing the essence of the person.
“The people in the photos are now in their fifties or sixties so it can be quite emotional to capture them as kids on the canvas,” she said. Her initial success sparked an obsession and Fizle found painting her own mother particularly cathartic. “I became almost addicted to bringing the people in the photos to life in a way that they had never been seen before. “It was like reaching back in time and finding these people who are your ancestors and making them real to you as opposed to black and white snapshots. “It really brought it home to me when I painted my mum. I had always known her as a woman 34
