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Natalie Toplass

Natalie started painting professionally shortly after moving to Shropshire in 2003, after completing a Fine Art
Degree and a post-grad in Stage and Set design. Growing up in Cheshire, Natalie loved drawing from an early
age. When her parents opened a florist shop, any unsold flowers were taken home and that’s when she started
to draw them; mostly to scale and in colored pencil-but that was the moment!
From sketch pad drawings as a child, Natalie progressed to painting oversized oils of sumptuous, magnified
flowers. She believes the scale of her work was influenced by her time working as a scenic artist – a role she
relished, and which took her around the world.
Current pieces incorporate story-like elements, ideas gained from dilapidated country houses seen while out
on walks with her dog, and the curiosities she finds. These help to create a visual narrative. Natalie aims to
convey the feelings and sense of pleasure she feels while being surrounded by nature, even the simplest of
things stir emotions. She wants the viewer to have an experience that encompasses sensations beyond that of
the image itself. Therefore, the scale of her work is important. By enlarging the scale, the nature of the subject
is intensified and enables the viewer to become surrounded by the beauty or whimsy of the subject.
Natalie’s technique had developed through intense observation and trial and error. There is always room for
development, and she enjoys this process of challenging herself. Her work has currently been shown in Tokyo,
Singapore, London, New York, and Australia, as well as in Shropshire. She had an article published in Artists
and Illustrator’s magazine in 2007, Shropshire Living Magazine 2021 and Collect Art magazine in 2023, and
has delivered several masterclasses at the prestigious West Dean College, in Chichester.

Curiouser and curiouser
Oil on canvas,
24'’x20'’, 2023

Further additions to my 'quirky' house. I love strong shadows and this painting REALLY has them. On a low shelf is a Victorian specimen jar filled with coiled
snakes. There are also two little mice showing curiosity about the contents of this peculiar jar. This feels full of story-like narratives to me and I love the reverse
role idea too between the snakes and mice.

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