Society of Women Artists' Exhibition at Mall Galleries

My painting Portrait of Yewande has been selected for the Society of Women Aartists’ Annual Open Exhibition and will be on show at the Mall Galleries in September (details here). For the past year, I’ve been making a series of paintings celebrating creative women I know who live and work in London. I’m so happy to be have this piece selected for the exhibition from a series I’m really passionate about!

The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body and registered charity, and has had a unique history dedicated to promoting art by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their works which they had otherwise been denied. Annual exhibitions have been held in London since 1857. The Society enjoys royal patronage from HRH Princess Michael of Kent.

Victoria Heald_Portrait of Yewande.jpg

News: Artist's Residency in London

In April and May, I was very honoured to be appointed the Artist-in-Residence at the brand new luxury Bankside Hotel. The hotel’s ethos is around celebrating art and they have exemplified this by making space in the heart of the hotel for an artist’s studio. Just down the river from Tate Modern, OXO Tower and Southbank, it is the perfect place for a London artist to showcase their work.

The space is beautiful and light, which was ideal to showcase my paintings with gold backgrounds. The figures are painted traditionally in oils, against a vibrant, shining gold backdrop - all of the pieces really shone!

During my time there, I made new figurative works celebrating young, creative entrepreneurial friends of mine living and working in London. In the paintings, I reflected their contemplative characters and enterprising spirit as they balance their creative work, jobs and all the normal stresses of everyday life with tireless resourcefulness and positive attitudes. I also had time to make a new lion painting as well!

Part of the Contemporary Collective residency was to connect with local residence and guests staying at the hotel, so I hosted two workshops where I showed people how to use gold leaf. I drew a small zebra sketch for them and then we went through the step-by-step process of how to embellish them, like I do with my own prints. All of the profits from the ticket price went to the amazing animal charity The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.

International Women's Day

Picture from the International Women’s Day panel I was on with fellow artists Sophie Derrick, Kate Marshall + Helen Gorrill and chaired by Pauline D’Souza, founder of the Diversity Art Forum. The event was hosted by Contemporary Collective gallery at Bankside Hotel, where I’m currently Artist in Residence . We had a fascinating discussion about gender in the art world, diversity, arts education, working as an artist in London and much more. Huge thanks to Contemporary Collective gallery and Bankside Hotel for putting on the event.

IMG_0320.JPG
IMG_0318.jpg

Press: Artist's Residency Featured in Luxury London, Robb Report and Southbank Guide

Later this year, I will be undertaking a three month artist residency at Bankside Hotel, London in conjunction with my gallery Contemporary Collective. This is a fantastic new arts-led hotel, supporting emerging artists in Central London by giving them space, exhibitions and opportunities to develop their work. I’ve been featured in the recent Robb Report article highlighting female artists taking up the residency this year. The workshops I’m hosting as part of the residency have also been featured in Luxury London and in the Southbank Guide.

Full article: https://robbreport.com/muse/journeys/london-bankside-hotel-spotlights-female-artists-2839445/

Press_Banksidehotel_Jan2019.jpg

Art on a Postcard Charity Auction

I was so happy to be involved in this year’s Art on a Postcard Charity Auction. The auction is held annually to raise money for charity, with artists donating postcard-sized artworks anonymously for art lovers to bid on.

The mini-artworks are exhibited in Central London for people to peruse before they bid. This year’s exhibition was in Devonshire Square, and showcased three artworks I had donated for the cause. Other artists involved included Marina Abramović, Humphrey Ocean RA, Golucho, Volker Hueller, Rob and Nick Carter, Martin Yeoman, Minas Halaj, Vanessa Jackson RA, Alan Fears, Rebecca Salter RA and Nichol Fahri.

The auction and exhibition were a great success this year raising over £80k for good causes, and I was so pleased to see my pieces had quite a few bids each!

Press: Summer Show Featured in Evening Standard

Over the summer my Hanging Around series is being exhibited with DegreeArt and Trinity Art in their space on the brand new London City Island.

The Summer Show includes some of a number of London artists and was featured on the front page of the Evening Standard's Homes & Property section.

Interior designer DEE CAMPLING

I was so touched when the amazing interior designer and stylist Dee Campling included my Hanging Around print on her blog page (she'd see the original at the Affordable Art Fair!)

To say thanks, I sent her a print which she posted about twice it to her 128K followers! I'm so happy Dee loves the print and it looks incredible in her absolutely beautiful home

New Hand-embellished Prints

Now available! Limited Edition Prints of a selection of my paintings. The prints are made using heavyweight German Etching® paper, creating  a matt, velvety surface. I then individually hand-embellished them with gold metal leaf to make each one unique! Visit my PRINT SHOP for more details :)

LONE STAR STATE

Road trip through Texas! We travelled all round visiting Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Colorado City, Fort Worth and Dallas.

I had some amazing experiences and a great response from people about my work and even sold one of my zebra paintings while we were out there!

 

New animal paintings

I've always painted people, but as more and more people have got in touch with me about animal commissions, I thought it would be fun to try some of my own.

So far, I have painted zebras, giraffes, an elephant and a flamingo... and I'm now just starting tropical birds

You can see them all on my ANIMAL PAINTINGS page

News: In the Studio

Inside my workspace at Kindred Studios in Queen's Park, West London. I live about half an hour away from my studio and walk in everyday with my little Mini Schnauzer, Bodie. The studios are an amazing creative hub of nearly 200 artists and makers. We have painters, sculptors, textile designers, jewellery makers, ceramicists, fashion designers, architects and many more all under one roof!

I share my space three other amazing artists (and one other dog, Pedro)