Jane Kell

She has a BA Honours in the History & Theory of Art from Essex University and worked for many years in PR, including roles such as Publicity Director of Phaidon Press and Head of Press at the National Gallery in London. When she started to paint in 2010 it felt very natural her first pictures were still-life and landscapes influenced by British painters like William Nicholson, and Mary Fedden, where colour and light were the focus.

Since 2014 she has taught an adult oil painting class in west London and she enjoys the contact with students and the insights that teaching provides. In 2017 she participated in a residency in rural France where she had the opportunity to work 'en plein air' for the first time. It was an exciting experience working outside and connecting with the landscape in an immersive way. Since this trip she has returned to France many times to work in the landscape and further develop her plein air skills.

After over a decade of painting and teaching art she has gained in confidence and technical skill. She still enjoys painting still-life and landscapes but tends now to work on a larger scale. Her interest in colour and light remain but now her focus is on how these elements work in a more abstract context​​​​​​​

In 2018 Jane was commissioned by the Belmond Cadogan Hotel in Knightsbridge, London to paint a series of large abstract paintings which would form the centrepiece of suites in the newly re-opened luxury hotel. The paintings were bold and intensely coloured and provided a new direction. In 2020 Jane had an opportunity to return to this way of working when she was invited to paint a series of new abstract and semi-abstract pictures for a solo show at the Amy Kaslow Gallery in Washington DC. It was a near sell-out show in spite of the challenges posed by covid and in 2021 she joined the gallery as Artist in Residence.

Don’t hesitate to email us on info@cambridgegallery.co.uk or call us on 01223 324222 if you have any questions about specific pieces.