Sally Pudney is a landscape painter working in an expressive realistic style. Her paintings focus on the landscapes, rivers, coast and estuaries of East Anglia, and the ancient trackways of Southern England. She works mainly in acrylic on board, often with added oil pastel.

During her early teaching career in Norfolk she painted landscapes in watercolour, but Sally began to paint seriously in acrylic in 2005. Since then she has exhibited in mixed exhibitions at the Haylett’s Gallery, the Geedon Gallery and at other exhibitions in Essex and Suffolk.  Her work is also being exhibited now at the Buckenham Galleries in Southwold, and Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden.

 Her work has been short-listed for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She holds regular Open Studio events at her home in Lexden.

“The focus of my interest in painting is light and colour. I love painting the huge East Anglian skies, the quiet lanes, the woodlands and the little boats around the estuaries of Essex and Suffolk. I try to capture the way light falls on the surface of water and mud, and the colours, shadows and movement of trees and fields against those vast skies.”

Sally has undertaken a number of painting projects in the last few years. 2016 saw the Twelve Months in and Essex Wood series, visiting and painting Hillhouse Wood just north of Colchester every month throughout the year. During 2017, the focus was the nature reserve at Fingringhoe Wick, on the Colne Estuary, resulting in twelve paintings of the varied habitat. In 2018 Sally’s project was Four Seasons on the Stour. Starting at Wrabness in January, she worked her way up river each month, finishing at Long Melford in December. As with other year-long projects, a small book has been published containing images of all these paintings.  In 2019 she worked on the coast of Suffolk and Essex in a project called On the Edge: The North Sea Project, painting at many seaside locations between Southwold and Southend. She also embarked on an occasional series called Landlines – paintings which show any feature which makes a line in the landscape.

In 2020 Sally visited an arable field on a local farm for Twelve Months in an Essex Field. This resulted in twelve large paintings, twelve drawings, a number of smaller paintings, plus a book and various items of merchandise featuring images from the project. They were exhibited  in 2021 at The Barley Barn Summer Exhibition, Church House Farm, Aldham CO6 3RT
In 2021 Sally started an on-going series called Essex Paths & Bridleways prompted by lockdown walks during the COVID 19 pandemic.

2022 has seen the start of two new painting projects. Twelve Months on an Essex Island exploring Mersea Island each month, which  resulted in a series of 12 large paintings, plus 12 small pastel drawings of ‘Findings’ from Mersea beach, a calendar, a book and a tea-towel – which are available on the SHOP page. Sally’s second 2022 project returns to an earlier interest in lettering art. PAINT 7 is a series of small framed lettering paintings using seasonal quotations from the American poet e.e.cummings. There were seven releases during the year, each one of seven near -identical paintings, although each painting is a unique original.

Sally’s interest in walking long distance trails has resulted in two series of work, one featuring the Peddars Way in Norfolk, and another series of twelve paintings of The Ridgeway from Wiltshire to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.

In 2023 Sally worked on a Family History painting project. Her Pudney family have lived in North Essex since the earliest recorded mention of the name in 1372, and Sally has been visiting and painting the places where they lived. This is a two year project which she is continuing into 2024.

Also in 2023 Sally completed a Rural buildings project, painting windmills, lighthouses, churches, barns, water mills and a bell cage during the year.

As well as continuing the Family History project in 2024 Sally is also spending this year experimenting with different media and surfaces, sizes, techniques and plein air painting out of doors.

“I love to be outside in the natural world and I hope my paintings convey something of this life-enhancing pleasure to the viewer.”

Since 2012 Sally has organised (along with Graham Bell) annual Arts Festivals showing work by invited professional artists and makers each year. In 2019 they launched a new venture, the Anglian Arts Project. The first exhibition, featuring eight professional artists, was at the Open Art Space in The Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe. Although the 2020 exhibition had to be cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the next exhibition was in  September 2021 at the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Naze Centre at Walton-on-the-Naze on the Essex Coast. In 2022 there will be two shows – at Little Bentley in May and at the Sentinel Gallery in Wivenhoe in September. In 2023 there were two shows, at The Craft House, Woodbridge, and the Sentinel Gallery in Wivenhoe.

Two shows are planned for 2024 – see the Anglian Arts page for details.

2005

Started painting in acrylic

2007/8

Exhibited with Colchester Art Society

2009/10/11

Haylett’s Gallery, Maldon: Summer Mixed Exhibition

2012

Finished teaching to concentrate on painting

Co-organised and exhibited at first Lexden Arts Festival

2013

Haylett’s Gallery, Maldon: Summer Mixed Exhibition

Geedon Gallery, Fingringhoe: Autumn Mixed Exhibition

2014

Short-listed for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Lexden Arts Festival

Haylett’s Gallery: Summer Mixed Exhibition

Participated in Colchester & Tendring Open Studios

Geedon Gallery: Autumn Mixed Exhibition

2015

Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe: Spring Opening Mixed Exhibition

Lexden Arts Festival

Haylett’s Gallery: Summer Mixed Exhibition

Participated in Colchester & Tendring Open Studios

2016

2016 Geedon Gallery: Spring Mixed Exhibition

Naze Tower Gallery: Solo Show

Haylett’s Gallery: Essex Women Artists

Colchester & Tendring Open Studios

2017

Geedon Gallery: Spring Mixed Exhibition

Lexden Arts Festival

Participating in Colchester and Tendring Open Studios

2018

All Saint’s Arts Festival, Maldon

Haylett’s Gallery

Colchester & Tendring Open Studios

Artspace, Woodbridge

Geedon Gallery

2019

Buckenham Galleries, Southwold (ongoing)

Haylett’s Gallery, Maldon ‘Summer Sensations’

Colchester & Tendring Open Studios

Caxton Gallery, Frinton on Sea

Framewerks Features : Featured artist for November

Open Art Space, The Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe – Eight artists in an exhibition organised by the Anglian Arts Project.

2020

Buckenham Galleries, Southwold (ongoing)

Church Street Gallery, Saffron Walden (ongoing)

Haylett’s Gallery (online only)

Anglian Arts Project exhibition – cancelled due to COVID pandemic

2022

Buckenham Galleries, Southwold – ongoing

Church Street Gallery, Saffron Walden – ongoing

Anglian Arts Project – Little Bentley 14-17 May

Anglian Arts Project – Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe 16-21 September

2023

Buckenham Galleries, Southwold – ongoing

The Craft House, Woodbridge – May

Summer Open Studios

The Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe – September

Christmas Open Studios

2024

Anglian Arts Project: St Mary’s Church Hall, Church Road, Little Bentley CO7 8SE- 16-19th May open 10.30-4.30 daily

Summer Open Studios – dates to be confirmed

Anglian Arts Project: The Barley Barn, Church House Farm, Rectory Road, Aldham, CO6 3RT – 18th-22nd September  open 10.30-4.30 daily

Christmas Open Studios – dates to be confirmed

 

 

 

 


Website by John Wheal

All images © Sally Pudney 2024