Commissioned Acrylic Portrait of Girl – Ava – Portraiture by Kent Artist Sally Banks
Artist: Sally Banks
Portrait of Ava
Commisioned Portrait
Image Size: 12″ x 16″
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
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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