About SeanO
SeanO is an artist, filmmaker, and street photographer, and Capturing London is my vivid exploration of life in the world’s greatest metropolis. "London is my spiritual home," and there’s nothing more fulfilling than creating portraits and sketches that authentically capture the essence of people's street-life experiences in the city.
I’m a straight non-conformist, embracing a somewhat tame yet bohemian lifestyle. Always in search, endlessly curious, and ever-exploring, my work as an artist and filmmaker is deeply shaped by cinematography and its power in storytelling.
After experimenting with various forms of imagery over the years, I’ve found that figurative art brings me the most fulfillment. Painting people is both a challenge and a true source of satisfaction.
Who am I and what am I? I'm continually finding that out! However I call myself a mixed media artist... in the past
have also had the privilege of being professional photographer and filmmaker too!
As a mixed media artist I engage with paint, charcoal,
pastel, chalk, digital sketching and almost anything I can
creatively lay my hands upon. Everything is focused upon the pursuit of capturing those beautiful, emotional and profound moments from the human storybook called LIFE" SeanO
It's not just about capturing a persons likeness
I love doing people portraits as every painting presents the added challenge of trying to capture a persons latent feelings and emotions.
Portraits are not just about capturing a likeness, it's also about
capturing the essence of the moment, an attempt to uncover a persons tangled mind and our raw naked emotional reactions. Looking at art with this kind of prospective makes the human story and portrait so much more interesting.
My portraits, films and life moments -
all captured from the streets
Just like the great artist Caravaggio, all my muses are from the streets, they are just ordinary people, leading ordinary lives, existing to breath, live and survive. I'm quite an empathetic person so its only natural that my art is intensely focused upon capturing the darkness and light of human emotions. I tend to choose street muses where I sense a strong visual connect with feelings of love, joy, anticipation, sorrow, pain, isolation and mental anguish. Just like the oddment shapes of a jigsaw, we lay the pieces of our own puzzle throughout our daily existence, pieces-by-piece as our journey unfolds, each and every precious life moment helps narrate the compelling story of our lives.
THOSE COFFEE MOMENTS - Covent Garden
'China in your hands'
CONTEMPLATIVE MOMENTS - Piccadilly Circus
'The girl under the Eros Statue
LOVE - St Paul's Gardens
'Lovers Picnic'
I've spent over 10 years painting and drawing in local cafes and bars
...working with a digital tablet has become a game-changer!
The Pub, cafe and a sketch
When I embraced the digital age and began drawing on a tablet, I spent the next 10 years sketching in local cafes and bars, bringing hundreds of characters to life for my storytelling portraits. I will continue to paint and sketch with oils, acrylics & charcoal, but some of the grand, dramatic portraits I envision often require up to 20 individual characters, making the process both challenging and time-consuming. In these cases, working with a digital tablet has become a game-changer, offering a more efficient and effective solution.
Painting & Storytelling
"All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players."
This Shakespearean quote resonates deeply with me, as I now perceive all captured/photographed people and citizens as my actors, performers & studio muses.
As a storytelling artist I'm recreating life stories from the streets of London, breathing life into hundreds of diverse characters, each and everyone of them... are my flesh and bone portrait muses.
Street soap opera
Many people watch the drama of life unfold on their television screens, following serialized shows like Eastenders, Coronation Street, and Emmerdale. But in my view, the streets of London provide the ultimate soap opera—offering daily episodes of love, laughter, fleeting emotions, anger, and tragedy. It’s real-life human drama, a place where conscious and subconscious minds unfold and extraordinarily... it's simply the best show in town.
Artists who have inspired me
As an artist I draw much of my inspiration from Caravaggio and William Hogarth, as I deeply connect with the passion in their work. Caravaggio’s art and storytelling, with each character taking on roles that weave a dramatic narrative across the canvas. Whilst Hogarth captured the essence of 18th-century street poverty, politics, culture, money, alcohol, sex and all of society’s darker realities.