Art, Painting Commissions and Prints from Surrey Artists

Artist: Sally Banks

Artist: Sally Banks

Portrait of Grandmother - Commissioned Portrait - African-influenced Acrylic Artist Sally Banks

Image Size: 20″x 20″
Art Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Commissions Invited
Please Contact the Artist

Contact The Artist

Sally Banks

Figurative, Landscapes, Floral and Portraiture in Acrylic and Watercolour

Phone: 077061 44544

Please mention the Surrey Artists website

Email: sallybanksart@gmail.com

Instagram: @artworksbysallybanks

About The Artist

The roots of my creativity are in Africa. The people, the vegetation and multifaceted landscapes of Zimbabwe were to me vividly bright and beautiful.

I moved to the UK in 2003, with one year away (2003-2004), accepting a visiting student opportunity in Jerusalem, Israel. I was based in Wimbledon up until 2009 and then moved to Surrey and now live in Kent. I have relished the cultural richness that is here and the beauty of the English countryside.

I look back at my mentors with gratitude. Beginning at primary boarding school, I remember with thanks the artist and teacher, Jean Peterson, who started an art club. My very first exhibition entry was done through her. From then on I thought of myself as an artist.

Trevi Fountain Rome Fine Art Prints
Estelle Byrne was my inspiring and gifted art teacher at secondary school. I notice on the Queen Elizabeth School Facebook page, she is often mentioned with affection. Her classes were the highlight of my week.

I mostly work in acrylic and watercolour. When I work from nature I prefer close up views, making the play of light the main ingredient. I am aware that I am drawing inspiration from my own story behind the subject, the ongoing script of everything observed.

I love the human form and face. I look for subtle expressions that reveal personality, the story behind the eyes.

St Georges Hill Weybridge Landscape Painting Commissioned

Awards / Exhibitions / Career

I studied at the School of Art at the Bulawayo Technical College. Under Adele Walters I discovered and developed my strength in life drawing and received the college’s Fine Art Award (1969). That same year, a class outing to the park to paint outdoors initiated my love for watercolours.

I went on to a long career in Harare, mostly within the textile industry. I took on painting commissions, sold my work through commissions, solo and joint exhibitions and in small local galleries. It’s a lovely thought that my work is all over the world in people’s homes.

In Zimbabwe I worked only in watercolour, and my subjects were predominately floral and landscape (see Bush Sunrise). Here in the UK, I have taken on private commissions and I have sold work at the Corner Gallery, Carlshalton (see Hydrangea Profusion) and through the studio of Jane Silk, the ceramicist (see Ornamental Orange Tree and Higginson Park).

I am exhibiting at Sixteen Gallery, Cheltenham in March 2022.

I’ve had exciting experiences as a mature student. I lived in Sweden for four years to study (BA European History) and during that time took 3 courses in Western Humanities under Dr. Torbjorn Aaronson, PhD Political Science, Uppsala (2002). As a visiting student for one year, I studied Jewish Art in Late Antiquity at the Hebrew University, Rothberg School, under Professor Lee I. Levine (2003-2004). I now live in Kent.