About
Lily has been painting professionally since 2006, exhibiting widely throughout the UK during that time, and now features in collections worldwide - including Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Australia. Lily exhibited overseas for the first time in 2012, with two shows in Barcelona, and one in Amsterdam. She now works from her studio on a sheep farm in Cumbria, just to the north of the Lake District.
Lily's work reflects a love of nature. Her original paintings are often inspired by multitudes in nature (flocks, shoals, gatherings...) and the flow of that multitude, in glorified representations. Lily’s paintings usually employ an element of collage material, however rather than found material, Lily uses paper copies of her own painting or printmaking studies. Koi fish, for example, are meticulously hand-painted, then reproduced, cut, and arranged in a composition on the canvas. Washes of inks are applied, and sometimes additional painted or drawn details, before a clear gloss varnish secures the work and adds an opulent lustre.
Work is often oriental in style; Lily is greatly influenced by the colours and aesthetics of eighteenth century printmakers such as Hokusai and Hiroshige, and Japanese kimono design. Lily is interested in finding out what it takes to create an appealing aesthetic - how to create a 'flow' and an energy. For Lily this means a search for balance and beauty. Overall her aims are simple – to create something the viewer can take enjoyment from.
In 2013 Lily was shortlisted for the New Lights Art Prize, which supports emerging young artists in the North of England. In January 2016, Saatchi Art featured Lily in their 'One to Watch' artist series.
Purchases or commissions can easily be arranged via email if you contact me with your requirements.
Selected Exhibitions and Events
Many of the following were ongoing exhibitions/stockists, date references first showing. Work has been exhibited at Studio 25 in Manchester Craft and Design Centre, over the period 2006 - 2015.2005 Tmesis, Manchester Contact Theatre, Manchester Degree show, Manchester Metropolitan University
2006 Odd Bar, Northern Quarter and Odder, Oxford Road, Manchester IDEAS - Bury Art Gallery, Greater Manchester Turnpike Gallery, Leigh, Greater Manchester
2007 Littleborough Gallery, Littleborough IDEAS – Bury Art Gallery, Greater Manchester Whitworth Art Gallery Café, Oxford Road, Manchester On The Eighth Day Café, Oxford Road, Manchester Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge
2008 Garden of Delights, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford Blossom, Chorlton Arts Festival, Manchester Telfords Warehouse, Chester Mooch Art, Manchester Buy Art Fair, Urbis, Manchester
2009 On The Eighth Day Cafe, Manchester Buy Art Fair, Urbis, Manchester The Bowery, Leeds Webbs Fine Art, Clapham, London Portico Gallery, Moseley Street, Manchester
2010 The White Gallery, Macclesfield The Buy Art Fair, Spinningfields, Manchester
2011 Sydenham Arts Festival, London Delicate Mayhem, Covent Garden, London
2012 Manchester Craft and Design Centre, Crafting History Exhibition Stockport Art Gallery, Stockport Barcelona Showcase, Casa Batlló, Spain Untitled BCN, Grazia, Barcelona, Spain The Art Market, Holmfirth Amsterdam Showcase, De Oude Kirk, Amsterdam
2013 Doubletree by Hilton Hotel at Manchester Piccadilly, via Ventures in Art Great Sheffield Art Show, via Ventures in Art The Buy Art Fair, Spinningfields, Manchester The Mercer Gallery, Harrogate (New Lights Art Prize)
2014 The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle (New Lights Art Prize) The Brick Lane Gallery, London The Fisher Theatre, Suffolk Bean and Brush Family Art Cafe, Sale
2015 Wall to Wall Gallery, Liverpool/Batley Alpha Art, Edinburgh George Thornton Art, Nottingham Windsor Contemporary Art Fair
2016 Enid Hutt Gallery, Kirkcaldy Christo Gallery, Glasgow Tallantyre Gallery, Morpeth Mitchell Gallery, Warwick
2017 Cumbrian Artist of the Year Exhibition, Rheged Centre
(Runner up, People's Choice Award)
2018 Manchester Art Fair, Manchester Central
2019 Manchester Art Fair, Manchester Central, Stories Art Gallery, Mayfair, London, Royal Geographical Society, London
2020 The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle
Dogtooth Gallery, Chester, Upfront Gallery, Cumbria
2021 The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle, Dogtooth Gallery, Chester, Manchester Art Fair, Manchester Central, Carlisle Cathedral
2022 The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle
Dogtooth Gallery, Chester
Upfront Gallery, Cumbria, The Fratry, Carlisle Cathedral
