‘I love Sarah-Jane’s charming interiors paintings, she has an eye for the quirky and depicts the real homes of interesting people so well’                                     Sophie Conran

 

‘I feel very lucky to have my rooms captured by the enchanting hand of SJ Axelby. The pictures are exquisite and completely capture the essence of the rooms and the book is just wonderful!’

Cath Kidston

 

‘SJ Axelby has given a whole new meaning to the concept of room portrait and has revived with great skill and a unique style this charming genre.’ 

Alice Stori Liechtenstein 

 

‘SJ Axelby’s illustrations really bring interiors to life. The spaces we design aren’t static but full of energy and her work tells that story with beautiful colour and style.’

Martin Brudnizki

 

‘SJ’s watercolours are for me pure escapism. They transport you into another dimension, literally into other rooms that through her touch feel so cosy and dreamy. She creates atmosphere with her brush and paint and they are all a visual feast for the eyes’

Martina Mondadori

 

“I love S-J’s interior portraits; romantic and timeless, they capture the essence of a room and let us forget about the prosaic parts, focussing only on the treasured elements that make up our memories of home. I feel so fortunate to have a portrait of one of my favourite rooms in a former home – it’ll stay with me forever and always evoke memories.” Alexandra Tolstoy

 

‘As a designer, to have a room drawn by Sarah-Jane is an honour. S-J’s pen captures not only every detail but most crucially the very essence of the room, transforming the transient into an indelible moment.’

Carlos Garcia Sanchez

 

‘SJ’s  painted interiors distill the familiar room into an exotic parallel universe’

Emma Burns

 

‘SJ brings a new and refreshingly relaxed style to the pantheon of interiors painters, joining familiar luminaries like Mary-Ellen Best and Alexandre Serebriakoff with a painterly flourish.’

Ashley Hicks

 

“ I am hugely honoured to have some of my interiors featured by the incredibly talented Sj- it’s as if she can transport you right back into the room with all its intricacies- the attention to detail in her charming paintings is second to none and it so brightened my days when I first discovered her during the darker parts of lockdown- a complete gem!”

Henriette von Stockhausen

 

“SJ’s paintings have the ability to capture a feeling personality so beautifully. They portray my creativity in such a wonderful way that I could only wish I was able to do myself!”

Henry Holland

 

“Having my bedroom (one of our rooms) painted by SJ is the dream.   She manages to capture the spirit of the interior in the most enchanting way so that you feel as though you are there.”

Joanna Plant

 

“We are used to seeing beautiful photographs of our homes and interiors on social media but it’s such a treat to see it rendered in paint through the eyes of another human rather than the cool clinical eye of a camera lens. “

Kate Watson – Smyth

 

“The room portraits of SJ Axelby are so delightful and exuberant.  With her obvious joy of dazzling color, intricate pattern, and lush layering, we are flattered and thrilled that she has found inspiration in some of our rooms.  She understands all the details that go into creating the rooms – and rather than editing, lays them all out like a feast for the eyes.”

Bill Brockschmidt

 

“SJ has the rare talent of being able to distil the feel and the intention of being in a room, in addition to the more obvious task of how one looks. It gives her room portraits unique charm and insight for lovers of Interiors.”

Benedict Foley

 

“We are mad, mad, mad for Sarah-Jane’s high-color, utterly riveting and engaging images that capture the world’s most glorious rooms. The surprise-and-delight details. The whimsy. And the fun. Her illustrations are always packed with a spirit of joy and happiness—and we all certainly need more of that in our lives.”

John Loecke and Jason Oliver Nixon, Madcap Cottage

 

“SJ’s sketches and paintings give a fun and personal touch to beautiful rooms – she manages to pick up the important and charming details in the paintings she does – she is the first person I know who started doing these personal and fun portraits.”

Penny Morrison

 

 

“Sarah-Jane captures the magic and soul of the rooms she illustrates and makes you want to be its inhabitant.  The looseness of her style and visual storytelling is beguiling.”

Brian McCarthy

 

“SJ’s work is pure joy. She captures the soul of the spaces she illustrates so beautifully. Thrilled and honoured to be a part of it. “

Lonika Chande

 

“SJ Axelby should not only be recognised for her talent with watercolours but also for her success in bringing together a community of like minded souls who share a love of art and interiors, her work is a joy to us all.”

Lisa Burdus

 

“I was so delighted when Sarah Jane painted my Tangier sitting room, its such a treat to see a room captured in paint with such charm”

Gavin Houghton

 

“SJ’s paintings are so vividly evocative of the spaces they illustrate that they appeal to all the senses.  Full of life, you can really feel their spirit.”

Fran Hickman

 

“Sarah-Jane’s interior paintings are joyful, sincere portraits that bring out the character and story of a room and its contents, in a way that no photograph can. It is absolutely delightful to see her take a pattern I painted and give it new life with her own hand.”

Alexis Hartman

 

“SJ’s watercolours bring me to a little world where I can escape myself when I want to flee reality. I can tell myself a little story about each of her room paintings and fly to another world !”

Marin Montagut

 

 

“We are delighted to be included in SJ Axelby’s joyful and delicate work, it takes the reader to an utterly close and personal relationship to our universe.”  Anthony Watson

 

“Sarah Jane’s charming and colorful interior illustrations are so lively and romantic you long to be in the rooms!”

Lisa Fine

 

“Sarah Jane has depicted several rooms both from projects and homes I love, some which are incredibly important and personal to me.  Each and every time she captures the spirit, colour and heart of an interior.  I treasure these works; it is a rare gift and wonderful to see the true character and idiosyncrasy of a room come to life on paper”.

Flora Soames

 

“It is such a thrill to see my fabrics and wallpapers depicted with such energy in SJ’s room portraits. Thanks to her and her @roomportraitclub followers this exciting genre is taking the interiors world by storm.”

Melissa White

 

“I absolutely adore  Sarah-Jane’s beautiful interpretations on interior’s,  and the details she captures are wondrous .. when I discovered her via Instagram,  I could never imagine that she would paint a corner of my world too … I am so excited to be a part of her book … “

Vinita Chaitanya

 

“Sarah-Jane does not only paint interiors, through her expressive strokes and cleaver colour palet, she portrays the lives and emotions that those interiors hold”.

Rabih Hage

 

Sarah- Jane’s work certainly captures the essence of a room; her hand portrays the layers and lifestyle that make well-loved rooms so atmospheric.

Steven Gambrel

 

” We are so excited to be included in this wonderful book.  Sarah-Jane’s whimsical interior paintings capture the true character of each space so beautifully! ” Susan Crater and Eliza Harris

 

“SJ Axelby’s whimsical take on interiors is a pure joy. What a pleasure to explore design through the strokes of a paintbrush.”

Rayman Boozer

 

“With her delicacy and finesse, Sarah-Jane Axelby brings back, in the midst of the digital age, the magic of a profession in danger of extinction.

A worthy heiress to the work of my admired Alexandre Serebriakoff”

Lorenzo Castillo

 

“SJ imaginatively shakes up an established classical art form effortlessly producing paintings of interiors, which are always fresh, witty and singular, peppered with a unique modern narrative and vision.”

Susanna White

 

“SJ is bringing back the wonderful and whimsical art of « portraits d’intérieurs » like Walter Gay & Alexandre Serebriakoff, with her own vision and style.” 

Julian Devergnies

 

“I have always loved illustrated interiors of rooms and Sarah Jane’s are particularly charming.”

Rita Konig

 

 

“SJ’s interior illustrations really capture the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of the rooms she paints. Her work is a pure joy to look at!”

Sean Anthony Pritchard

 

“SJ has inspired creativity in so many others with her beautiful interior portraits, particularly at a time when so many of us are feeling the need for a creative outlet. Her portraits brilliantly depict the personality of her chosen interiors, they are such a joy to behold.”

Kate Guinness

 

“SJ’s paintings are enchanting, magical and transportive. If I could live in one I would.”

Sibella Court

 

“I am so thrilled to have my work captured by Sarah Jane. SJ uses watercolour with soft focus magic, conjuring up the feeling of being in a space. These paintings are alive with the nuances of a room; you can almost hear the floorboards creak and smell the traces of a log fire.”

Rachel Chudley

 

“SJ Axelby’s intuitive use of colour and brush stroke have successfully captured the wonderful feeling of being wrapped up in one of my rooms layered with pattern, colour and texture. A feeling you can’t quite put your finger on but feels almost like magic.”

Anna Spiro

 

“Sarah-Jane’s watercolor interiors illustrate just how joyful and inviting our homes can be, highlighting intricate patterns and lively wallpapers”

Vicky Charles at Charles and Co

 

 

“Sarah-Janes watercolours are totally dreamy. I love how her brush marks become abstract and Smokey when it comes to painting patterns.”

Lucie de Moyencourt

 

“It’s such a rare talent to be able to create so much atmosphere in a painting as SJ is able.  There is so much beauty in the movement and colour yet it is done in a subtle and pure way.”

James Thurstan

 

“Sarah-Jane’s pictures are full of light and a touch of fun. She has a wonderful eye for beauty and colour which she brings to her charming interiors.“

Bridget Elsworthy

 

“SJ’s interior portraits so beautifully capture our fascination with beautiful interiors. Seeing spaces portrayed in this unique painterly way is both mesmerising and refreshing. Everything looks especially dreamy in this artist’s hand “

Fiona Leahy

 

“SJ Axelby’s delightful walercolors are in the very best tradition of 19th century room-renderings as collected by Mario Praz. I am delighted to see this art carried into the 21st century with such talent and whimsy.”

Nathalie Farman-Farma

 

“Thrilled to see our happy dining room so charmingly rendered by Sarah – Jane, whose artistic vision just lifts one’s spirits.”

Markham Roberts

 

‘I love the moment of time caught in an interior, and SJ does it with such energy as if I could walk right in to that space and sit down!’

Molly Mahon