Watercolour paintings of Neve

An artist woman sitting at a desk drawing on a sketchpad surrounded by potted plants, with paintings and portraits hanging on the wall behind her.

Shortly after Neve died, I felt compelled to paint her portrait; learning to paint people has been an unexpectedly healing journey of discovery. You can read more about this in Painting Neve and Painting Neve 2.0.

My favourite paint is from The Stoneground Paint Company and my favourite paper is Arches Aquarelle Cold Pressed.

A black-and-white painting of a young boy sitting on the floor, looking at a ball, with a window in the background, is displayed on an easel. Next to the painting, a tablet shows a real-life scene of the same boy in a kitchen, also sitting on the floor with the ball, and is propped up on a stand. The desk has a glass of water on a coaster, a small dish with paint and a paint scraper, and a potted plant nearby.
Collection of watercolor portraits of children, some completed and others in progress, on a wooden desk. There are art supplies, including paints, brushes, and water containers, a desk lamp, and potted plant nearby.

All photographs above by Philippa James

Open Art Exhibition 2024

The Museum of Oxfordshire’s Open Art Collection, ‘Representations of People’, selected A painting to mark a year for their exhibition. The painting also won a Judges’ special recognition award.

A portrait watercolor painting of a young girl with messy dark hair and fair skin, wearing a patterned shirt, displayed on a gallery wall with a plaque explaining the artwork.
Four separate scenes at an art gallery where people are viewing and taking photos of portrait paintings with descriptive plaques. The groups include a person with short blond hair, two women with dark hair, and a woman with curly red hair.