Portrait of Grandmother – Commissioned Portrait – African-influenced Acrylic Artist Sally Banks
Artist: Sally Banks
Artist: Sally Banks
Grandmother
Commisioned Portrait
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
Please mention the Surrey Artists website
Email: sallybanksart@gmail.com
Instagram: @artworksbysallybanks
Gallery Of Art
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.
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.
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.
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