Samantha Ellis-Fox lives and works mainly between her two homes in Co Tyrone and Co Donegal where she is as much influenced by the contrasting landscapes of Tyrone as she is with the seascapes of the Inishowen Peninsula, Donegal. Samantha is a contemporary Irish painter and takes great influence from everyday forms which surround her in local landscapes and "homescapes". In her recent work she has begun to explore the forms of the human body and does so in a very simple, flat style with limited use of colour.

"It is the forms I am interested in not the actual objects which interest me; it does not matter to me that the object is a cow, a jug or a field, my paintings are about the form"….

Samantha Ellis-Fox was born in Bedford England in 1969 but has spent almost all of her life growing up in the rural surroundings of Co Tyrone. Her work is mainly inspired by all of her surroundings not just the landscapes and she is continually inspired by the shapes and colours of objects.

Samantha graduated from Wolverhampton University with a BA Hons majoring in History of Art in 1991 having completed a Foundation course in Art & Design in Harrow, London. Samantha followed a successful career in business management/consultancy for ten years where she received a Masters Degree from the University of Ulster in 1999. Recently Samantha twinned her business career with that of her artistic interest in becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Samantha has only recently started painting over the last two years and has already completed commissions for the hotel and business sectors in the UK and Ireland and has recently exhibited in group shows in the Belfast City Hall, Letterkenny and the RDS Autumn Show 2006, Dublin. She recently had her first solo show at the Ace of Arts Gallery in Letterkenny which proved successful.

"The forms I see are the forms that surround me in my everyday landscapes, still lifes and in the nudes. I take them out of their grey world and add a little colour. I simply take inspiration from the bold, flat frugality of my everyday surroundings……"