Swarbrick Banks

BA, MA

painter

About


Jill Swarbrick Banks                 

MA , BA .                                        

painter

professional since: 1992
born: London 1959
medium: Oils
studio: Cornwall. UK


lyrical abstraction
landscape
portraiture
genre

Definition of agency by the artist

I work with the best quality oil paint. I don't think there is any other medium like it for the ability to convey atmosphere & I may add that the longevity of oils is also well established.
I work on a fine linen substrate.

I attempt using paint to escort a viewer into a "transcendental" level... I choose to call this 21st century 'Lyrical Abstraction' as it feels the right pocket for it.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing first-hand the artwork of the veteran artist Roger Dean. Roger is the chap that created the magical imagery for the prog rock era bands Yes, Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant, etc. His other-worldly landscapes float in blended hues which are placed within supernatural skies and mysterious terrains. They beguile the eye, emerging and transporting us to somewhere beautiful and profound. These other-worldy places I really appreciate in Roger's work and when you listen to the music at the same time, its just ... fabulous!  I worked in record shops in the 70s & 80s & I think that gazing at record cover artwork like this must have seeped into me.

I suppose it is all about an escape to memory. I love gently skimming in thin layers, gradually building the feeling of depth, always aiming to maintaining a profound beauty.
A painting (by my hand) is intended to be a portal on your wall, a physical thing in your space that becomes more than just obvious marks on a surface, it should suggest atmosphere. The aim being that when you are situated before it, you are taken to a supernatural place.
The truth of landscape painting for me is to take you somewhere else, somewhere completely out of the ordinary and for you to invent your own narrative from your own life experiences. I never want" to join up the dots", that's your adventure.

Music is an important  element in the studio. I particularly favour work by Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt but I also admire the folk group ' The Unthanks ', whose music is so stark and atmospheric rich and rolling reflective and brooding, their roots deep in their native Northumberland and unmistakably part of the BritishTraditional Music canon.

Music sets the mood and mindset, however poetry or a line or two from a book might be the catalyst for starting a painting. Even a real life ( catastrophic ) event such as Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine ( see my painting 'Rhapsody / Song for Ukraine' in the gallery section ) or ' 911' have been responded to...

I stand in silence before laying out a palette, just allowing the sounds to wash over me until I feel compelled to paint, selecting a brush and a size of blank canvas, then I begin.
Titles of paintings are mere trigger points to help the viewer focus in and join me in my original inspiration and intention. Each painting should exist in its own right thereafter hopefully resonating in its own sort of beauty.


When I paint, it isn't about the cringing "expressing myself", I just try to tune into a hidden zone or vibration then hopefully the painting suggests its own path. I go with intuition, relying on technique & experience... I do feel but a conduit within a process. I only know a painting is ultimately concluded when suddenly it somehow starts to "zing" back to me.

My late husband the musician Dave Swarbrick was often asked how he produced his unique sound and seemingly effortless technique on the violin. His answer was succinctly beautiful : "Practise! ".
It goes for all Arts I think, not only physically but spiritually.

Like most artists I suffer from some pitfalls in art: procrastination, complacency and the fatal biggy : ego.
However, the truth is that perhaps some of them are essential if one is serious about progress?
Ego is a driver, especially in the early years when you might taste a bit of interest & success in your work but it shouldn't turn your head & lead you astray, careering forever in a single direction. It is very useful though for a necessary feeling of self-belief. If you don't believe in yourself... no one else will!
Complacency is bad one, a knock-on from ego and can if left to run wild lead to inspiration drying up and stagnation. Most artists go through this stage and some of us repetitively.
Procrastination (suddenly the washing up is SO important, etc ) might just be the quiet before any definite deliberate action, mulling over that the task ahead is a definite action which...at some point... has to begin. Its a kind of "warm up" event!

I tell myself all the time that the next painting will be the great one and will lift my work up a level.  But, you know, all that really matters is the act of painting and constantly trying to improve.

So, if you are an artist reading this; enjoy your moment when that last painting you've just created takes your  breath away and try to hang on to the notion that your next  painting will be even greater. Keep going on that track. This is not ego or complacency, it is just a little drop of wisdom because you know in your heart of hearts that the ultimate painting is in fact, totally unachievable!

Painting should move you but without an audience where is the fun...?



Education

B.A. Baccalaureate degree  fine art painting

(ART ACADEMY) Kunst Academie 'Minerva'. 
Ged.Zuiderdiep te Groningen. 
The Netherlands. 
1988 -1992

M.A. Master of Art  post graduate degree  fine art painting

School of Art, University of Aberystwyth.
Cymru (Wales).
2017 - 2019
(distinction)



Artist in Residence to Coventry Cathedral in their golden jubilee year 2012.
Commissioned to record the celebrations during the year of the 50th anniversary consecration of the new cathedral.

Also commissioned to paint the portrait of their leaving Dean the Very Reverend John Irvine.
Dean to Coventry Cathedral: 2002 - 2012
The portrait currently hangs in the provost's vestry alongside all former Deans who have served the new building. A portrait of the leaving Dean is a tradition to Coventry.

During a very happy year at Coventry, Jill accomplished several projects including several abstract paintings inspired by and in celebration of the 50th jubilee celebrations.

The breathtaking kaleidoscope of stained glass that lines the cathedral wings and the Baptistry Window by John Piper in particular deeply resonates with Jill; "they are pure hope personified". The magnetic draw of the Graham Sutherland tapestry of Christ profoundly humbling the moment one glimpses it entering from the West Screen clear engraved glass panels known as the 'angel' windows designed and engraved by the artist John Hutton, all these combined elements Jill will still affirm were the bedrock of opening the door to "running with the imagination" in her practice.


Career

Jill's first steps into Art were to enrol on an elementary part-time art course run by a local artist Ms. Bobby Smith in Kew, Richmond upon Thames, Surrey. However the real spark to pick up brushes and paint came after reading the biography of the socialite painter "GLUCK" aka Hannah Gluckstein by Diana Souhami. "I was utterly transfixed at the power and subtle beauty of Gluck's painting. She was a complete maverick for her times, an odd-ball and her life and work became a bit of an obsession. I wanted to learn to paint more than anything!"

After a two year art and design course in East London, Jill's practice began in earnest studying for her Baccalaureate degree (Fine Art Painting) in the Netherlands in the late 1980s studying fine art painting and artists at the Academie Minerva Kunst Academie. She graduated in 1992. It was here in Groningen that she discovered the work of Czech painter Franz Kupka. Spurred on to survive long periods of homesickness for the British countryside went on to a dedicated period studying Samuel Palmer but also abstracted landscapes by Graham Sutherland, in particular, his work based on the welsh countryside became a major fascination during Jill's decade in the Netherlands. However after concentrating on portraiture and genre, upon her repatriation to England in 1998 her last years have been focused on discovering "possible" techniques of Turner.

In 2019 saw Jill graduate with a Masters Degree (distinction) at the School of Art, Aberystwyth University, Cymru ( Wales).
This period gave Jill the opportunity to stretch her painting from a more genre and portrait-centred practice
into a more lyrical abstraction of landscape and ephemeral themes.

"Turneresque"
A frequent comment attached to Jill's "lyrical abstraction and transcendental landscape" work produced since the mid 2010s, which leading biographer and art historian professor Frances Spalding CBE, FRSL has described as "formidable”. Her paintings seem to take on remarkably subliminal qualities.
Jill herself would affirm that she is very much "my own painter and no copyist” and ploughs her own furrow with a deep seated love for oil paint and its potential to create atmosphere.

Commissions

A polymath and at home in all genres of painting Jill is also known for achieving stunning portraits as well as her lyrically abstracted landscapes, however she especially enjoys discussing challenging projects face to face with clients particularly appreciating free ranging open-ended ideas and commissions.


Back Catalogue

Although most of her work is privately commissioned and collected, she has publicly exhibited in the Netherlands and the UK since 1992 most notably Galerie Pictura in Groningen - one of the oldest galleries in the Netherlands and most recently Clare Hall, Cambridge University where the Head of the Art Committee is Professor Frances Spalding CBE, FRSL.

Private Tutor 
NVQ Level 7 
fine art painting

Tuition in advanced (oils) painting, covering portraiture, landscape, genre, abstraction.
One to one tuition in Devon and Cornwall.

Lecturer and Speaker
A unique and very personal approach to fine art painting with oils. Philosophy, Inspiration and Technique.

Commissions
If you would like a non-committal quote regarding commissioning a painting or just curious and looking for more information about her future projects, do drop Jill a message via the contact page.


Curriculum Vitae
Contact us at FOXER Fine Art


Recent exhibitions: 

Clare Hall, Cambridge University.
9th March - 27th April 2023
Transcendental Landscapes
A series of oils inspired by the Dyfi River and surrounding landscape of Mid-Wales.
Curated by Professor Frances Spalding. FRSL, CBE.Clare Hall
Herschel Road
Cambridge
CB3 9AL
https://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/events/jillswarbrickbanksexhib23/


The Charles Causley Festival 
Launceston, Cornwall.

Southgate Arch
Exhibition of work by five professional artists, inspired by the poetry and prose of Charles Causley CBE, FRSL.
Dr. June Forster, Wayne Summers MA , Rachel Ricketts RBSA, Emma-Jayne Holmes BA, MA, Jill Swarbrick-Banks BA, MA

June 29th - July 2nd 2023, Launceston, Cornwall.

On Friday 30th June in the Town hall a commissioned painting : "Where Stone Runs Like Honey" inspired partly by the poem "Launceston Castle" by poet Anthony Vahni Capildeo ( the painting's title is actually a line from their poem ) was unveiled, during the Charles Causley Festival 2023.
Please support the festival in any shape or form to keep Charles Causley's heritage and beautiful poetry to the fore!

Cropredy Festival
Fairport's Cropredy Convention
Near Banbury
Oxfordshire 
August 2023 & 2024


FOXER FINE ART staged an exhibition of Jill's large oils at the festivals.
Merchandise also offered were signed fine art giclée prints and greeting cards of her most recent work.
In 2024, Jill's dear friend and colleague Emma-Jane Holmes joined us in exhibiting her exquisite abstract landscapes.


Personal life

Born in London in 1959
Raised in Oxshott, Surrey.

Parents: Wyn & Arthur Banks
military cartographer & author

Partner: Alie Blok.

Silversmith.
Civil partnership ( samen levings kontract)
Together from 1984 - until Alie's death in 1997
Born: Katwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands
Died: Groningen, The Netherlands
12/03/1961 - 02/10/1997

Last partner: Dave Swarbrick.

Musician and Songwriter.
Married in Coventry Register Office 6th February 1999 until Dave's death in 2016.
Born: Ewell, Surrey, England
Died: Aberystwyth, Cymru
5/4/1941 - 3/6/2016





With immense gratitude to ...

Stu Vincent, photographer
Black & white portrait photograph of Jill Swarbrick-Banks © Stu Vincent 2023
stuvincent.co.uk

Jeremy Peters, photographer
Colour photographs from exhibition @ Clare Hall, Cambridge University © Jeremy Peters 2023
jeremypeters.com



Current inspirations....

I am a great fan of The Unthanks. I love their haunting music and I play them often in my studio to set up an other-worldy atmosphere... In fact several paintings have been created to their music playing softly in the background.
I just love their vocals and arrangements, impeccable!
Check them out but I'm sure you already have :)
























Galleries

  • Ceunant / Gorge

    oils on linen Framed: 113 x 103 x 4cm "Ceunant" in Welsh. Slate mining has left vast chasms inside the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia). From the 19th century, miners used to blast out huge slabs of slate inside the mountains. All of the awesome fire and danger of that industry now abandoned to the underworld, stilled now to drips of water and echoes. Original oil SOLD. (Available as giclée print or greeting card)

  • Bardo

    Oils on linen. 125cm x 115 cm. Unframed. 2020 My despairing response to Covid 19 which was raging in 2020 when this was painted. No longer available.

  • Breathing

    oils on linen 100cm x 90cm unframed 2020 Meditation on trying to breathe, trying to survive Covid 19 No longer available

  • Tintinnabuli

    Oils on Canvas 100cm x 90cm unframed 2019 Inspired by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's sublime "Tabula Rasa". No longer available

  • Hawthorn White

    oils on linen Framed: 113 x 103 x 4cm 2022 A poem by Charles Causley. Causley a solitary man and lifelong resident of Launceston, Cornwall wrote this poem musing as an older man on his lot. After visiting his humble house "Cypress Well" one rainy dark winters afternoon. I sat on the floor beside his desk, typewriter, books, chair, and piano and I was overwhelmed by a sense of sadness but also the beauty in his eye as he dwelt on the passing of time. Original oil SOLD (Available as giclée print or greeting card)

  • Rhapsody ( Song for Ukraine )

    Oils on linen 103 x 113 x 4cm framed 2022. I felt compelled to register, in my own way, the eruption of mad violence upon this vast country and its proud folk. Amidst war and gunshot fracturing this land's every fibre, I have discovered its beauty and strength. A blue and gold flag morphs into a juice-green rhapsody which soars out above the guns and I suddenly hear the sound of a simple lyre, like a blackbird's early morning song. Original oil SOLD ( Available as giclée print or greeting card)

  • Estuary

    oils on linen 2019 103cm x 113cm signed and framed. Travelling from Machynlleth to Aberdyfi the road twists and turns, clinging to the very edges of cliffs which reveal sudden breath-taking elevations beside the Dyfi. Eventually you emerge into a scrambled together stretched seaside village that blinks out over a sandbank strewn estuary and the searing white light of the Celtic Sea, full of small bobbing fishing boats and crying gulls. Original framed oil painting. POA.

  • Ffwrnais ( translation: Furnace )

    oils on linen 2019 103 x 113 x 4 cm framed A small bend in the road of a village near to the ancient town of Machynlleth. A massive 18th century waterwheel still attached to its crumbling building, which drips with fluorescent lichens and bleeding ores, orange and gold on grey stone. An adjacent waterfall thunders over huge boulders beside the structure. Original oil SOLD (Also available as giclée print or greeting card)

  • Inundation

    oils on linen 2019 103 x113 x 4 cm As flooding increases and the sheer uncertainty of living weighs heavy as an anchor on us all in Britain today - especially since Brexit - I felt compelled to convey my feelings of isolation, despair and inundation, while also maintaining the hope of sailing into calmer waters eventually. Life still thriving in the depths! Original oil SOLD ( Available as giclée print and greeting card)

  • Mallwyd ( Rhiannon)

    oils on linen 70cm x 70cm x 4cm (framed) 2019 In reality, a curious little hamlet in mid Wales nestling in the Dyfi Valley, where until very recently I lived and worked. Mallwyd translates as "The Grey Place". Here shown with the nearby River Dyfi roaring in terrifying spate, and Rhiannon, a wild spirit of Welsh mythology caught up in its violence and beauty. Original oil painting now in the collection of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, England. ( Available as giclée print or greeting card)

  • Braich Goch

    oils on linen 113cm x 103cm x 4cm signed and framed 2019 The title Braich Goch can literally be translated as Red Arm. It is the name of an old slate mine seam/complex in mid and north Wales, particularly the around the area of Corris. It has left a beautiful devastation on the landscape. You feel at once inside and outside the mountains. They are now carpeted in rich green lichens and luminous turquoise slabs lying in the Welsh drizzle and moss, with the constant noise of thundering water somewhere... Original oil painting (framed). Last one of the Welsh Slate Mine series. POA

  • The Mind's Eye

    oils on linen 90cm x 100cm x 4cm 2023 Original oil painting SOLD. ( Available as giclée print and greeting card) Desciption: Purely a meditation on loving kindness.

  • Pump V ( dedicated to Terry Hall )

    oils on linen 90cm x 100cm x 4cm (framed) 2019 Original framed oil painting. This work conveys fond memories and luminous light from my time as Artist in Residence to the magnificent Coventry Cathedral. When the sun shines through the stained glass, it fractures into shimmering kaleidoscope colours across the vast dark smooth floor, an elevating spiritual experience in itself. POA.

  • Afon Kennet / The river Kennet

    #2 Chalk stream series Afon Kennet oils on linen 400mm x 500mm ( This painting is framed + 4mm all round) 2024 POA

  • Calon yr afon

    #3 of the chalk stream series Calon yr afon oils on linen 400mm x 500mm ( This painting is framed = 4mm all round) 2024 POA.

  • Prithvi

    oils on linen 20" x 16" ( This painting is framed + approx 3mm all round) 2024 POA. Prithvi ( an ancient term referring to the earth) is inspired by the indefatigable naturalist, broadcaster and advocate for the preservation of the natural world Sir David Attenborough. The image of an almost fossilised bird disappearing under rising flood waters gradually emerged. It also reminds me in a curious way of 'Concorde' the supersonic aeroplane that used to crash the sound barrier twice a week when I lived near Bushey Park in London. It's a lament really on everything we have lost and are losing. However, the bright colours offer hope for survival and renewal eventually...

  • Halcyon

    #1 In the chalk stream series Oils on linen 870mm x 980mm Framed 2024 Part of chalk stream series, begun in the Spring of 2024. 'Halcyon' was a mythical bird in Greek mythology and can also be attributed to a Kingfisher. The Kingfisher clad in its "razor blue" streaks at speed downstream leaving one in awe of its sudden appearance and fluorescent colours. Here is my lyrically abstracted interpretation of the bird zipping down a chalk stream. Although often glimpsed on the River Dyfi and River Kennet, I have also witnessed a pair of Kingfishers in mid winter over the sea rock pools at Aberystwyth.

  • Avalon and Glastonbury Tor

    Oils on linen 500mm x 600mm ( This painting is framed + approx 40mm) 2024 POA The Isle of Avalon rising clear in an early morning sunrise

  • Afon Dyfi at Mallwyd

    oil on linen 90cm x 100cm x 4cm 2018 SOLD. ( available as giclée print and greeting card )

  • Commission a portrait

    I am known to specialise in portraiture. I really enjoy meeting the subject and discussing their requirements and wishes. It is quite an intimate acquaintance as an oil painting must reflect the personality and history of the subject, so I will ask quite a lot about you and take heaps of photographs of you from all angles. I work from photographs but I like to build up a good acquaintance with the sitter. A portrait is after all a permanent remembrance of you! Painted in oils on Italian linen it will actually last for centuries ...to pass down the generations unchanged. Contact me for a free quote? Portrait depicted: Horticulturist Lisa Cunningham - Allsop oils on linen. 2018. Approx 70cm x 70cm. Portrait of a horticulturist friend. The background blooms are abstracted blue hydrangea, Lisa's favourite flowers. In the sitter's private collection.

  • Boom & Bust

    oils on linen 100 cm x 110 cm (approx) 2008 Luthier and musician Michael Burnham with Dave Swarbrick

  • Coventry Cathedrals ( Jubilee 2012)

    Framed original oil on canvas 30" x 40" ( + 3.5 cm frame depth ) was painted as part of the Artist in Residence to Coventry Cathedral appointment in 2012 ( actually completed in 2014). I was very moved by the procession of dignitaries on the 50th anniversary, when the Cathedral hosted Anne, Princess Royal, and the Archbishop of Canterbury ( at that time) Dr. Rowan Williams plus he Dean and Canons of Coventry. The old and the new cathedrals are woven into each other and the midday light was almost fluorescent inside the packed congregation on rows and rows of seats. The procession was like a moving train through my half closed eyes and the pounding organ music added mightily to awesome effect. Original Oil £1200 ( available as giclée print and greeting card )

  • Blodauwedd

    oils on linen. 2018 (Available as giclée print and greeting card) Original painting no longer available Blodauwedd from Welsh Myth associated with oak flowers, broom and meadowsweet.

  • The Consultation

    oils on linen 2010 Mr William S. Lund ENT surgeon. M.S. FRCS. Dave Swarbrick musician ( Violin, Viola, Mandolin), songwriter. member of Fairport Convention 1969 - 1999

  • Lacrimae rerum / Angela Leighton

    Oils on linen 700 mm x 600 mm. 2024. Private commission. The renowned literary scholar & poet Professor Angela Leighton FBA. This commission was a delight from start to finish. My client has strong roots in Yorkshire and Italy (Naples and Sicily) and so immediately geology came to mind and most notably limestone pavement, so evocative to me of Yorkshire; ( a line in the poem 'A Limestone Pavement' written by Angela suggested the title of the portrait as well. The formidable volcanoes Vesuvius and Etna are of course major geological features to southern Italy ). My brief was to be as free as I liked and to abstract the portrait as far as I would dare! I also listened to the piece of music written by her late father, composer Kenneth Leighton: ' Drop, Drop, Slow Tears' and I was minded to depict Angela in an abstracted contemplative pose, perhaps in absorption of lacrimae rerum ( tears of things), the latin phrase that derives from Book I, line 462 of the Aeneid, by Roman poet Virgil (c. 29 - 19 BC). We are currently living in such flux, in turbulent and troubling times and this all just felt "right" as a title and to perhaps sum up the poet's lot to make sense of it all with eloquence and composure. I placed the central image of Angela - in a familiar to herself peaceful pose - within facetted limestone pavement cracking across the composition. The human form as part of the growth, deterioration and ultimate and inevitable renaissance of life within swirls analogous of volcanic activity. Angela's words have been very affecting and I have felt so enriched working on this commission with her.

  • The Cropredy Crowd

    oils on linen (framed) 2024 48 x 53 x 3 cm Especially created for the 2024 Cropredy Convention Festival and depicting the abstracted faces of the Cropredy crowd at night as seen by Fairport Convention. A sea of warmth and love looking back at them. The image gradually morphs the faces into a big red heart. POA

  • Cornish rock pool

    oils on linen 2024 65 x 75 x 3 cm (framed) SOLD

  • Greeting Cards and Giclée Prints

    Most of the paintings featured on this site are available as cards and prints, ordering directly from Jill Swarbrick-Banks herself. Cards come as a pack of five, its mix and/or match, you choose! Giclée prints are also available of the paintings. They come as A2 in size £85 each ( signed on request) All orders are inclusive of P&P (UK)

  • The Cropredy Crowd greeting card and giclée print

    All the work on this website is the © copyright of Jill Swarbrick-Banks and generally available as greeting cards , a pack of five blank inside cards of your choice - per pack £10, and beautiful giclée prints £85 each. The prints come as A2 size but can be printed smaller or larger and they come unframed, rolled in acid free tissue paper inside a robust cardboard tube.

  • Cân Serch / Song of love

    oils on canvas with silver leaf Approx 1995 Approx 40 x 40 cm

  • Abdij / Abbey

    oils on canvas Approx 80 x 90 cm Approx 1992

  • Courtier

    Named after a friend; Ans Courtier. Ans and I studied at the Kunst Academie; Minerva, Groningen in the late 1980s early nineties. Oils on canvas Approx 1992 Approx 50 x 60 cm

  • Ráth

    In Ireland, a Ráth is an ancient enclosure or archeological ring fort, sometimes called a Fairy Ring. Inspired by a visit to Picton Castle in the late 1980s to the Graham Sutherland exhibition at the time.

  • Celtic

    Pronounced Kel-tic with a hard C. Part of an infatuation I had in the early 1990s with The Celts; especially the tribes that once occupied what is now England. Boudicca's tribe in East Anglia during the Iron Age and Roman era was the Iceni.

  • Hydref / October / Autumn

    Painted in 1992, Hydref was created in Groningen, the Netherlands that Autumn. A shaft of sunlight suddenly grew into a vibrant diagonal across the Burnt Sienna background and I managed to outline the shapes within the sunbeam before it disappeared a minute or so later. Hydref in welsh for the Autumn & October. I was fascinated by the Celts at the time and the isle of Eire.

  • Red Tree / Welsh woods at night

    Painted "in nostalgia" in Groningen, the Netherlands after a wonderful holiday in mid Wales. Researching the entrances into the Underworld or Annwn kept me entranced when this painting emerged. oils on canvas Approx 80 x 90 cm (?) 1994 Private collection in Wales

  • Samhain

    The Pagan festival that occurs on All Hallows Eve ( Halloween ). Its a powerful time when we enter the darker half of the year in the northern hemisphere. Approx 90 x 80 cm (?) Original oil on canvas was in the collection of friends Beryl & Roger Marriott ( now deceased). 1994

  • The Hosting of the Sidhe

    After a poem of the same name by W.B. Yeats. I was reading a book of poetry at the time by Yeats. The Irish Pub: "O'Ceallaigh's" in Groningen, run by Peter Kelly and Eva Spakman was my watering hole and refuge when I lived in Groningen in the 1990s. The pub remains a unique hub of Irish culture and warmth. It's a favourite haunt for Irish patriots and British ex-pats like myself. Eva Spakman is a talented artist and friend. We studied fine art painting together at the Kunst Academie (Art Academy) in Groningen.

  • The Mind's Eye

    A meditation on kindness and calm. Approx: 1998. 80 x 90cm Oils on canvas.

  • Dan y Dŵr / Under the waters

    oils on canvas 1993 800mm x 900mm Dan y dŵr , was inspired by the drowning of the welsh speaking village of Capel Celyn in North Wales in the early 1960s. Funnily enough, I lived nearby many years later... The now Tryweryn Reservoir I always find a chilling place.

  • Hoopdiddydiddy

    Named after a line sung by Freddie Mercury in Queen. Freddie died tragcally from Aids in 1991 and this was my tribute to him. Approx 90 x 80 cm Oil on canvas 1991

  • Troubadours - Swarbrick & Carthy

    A genre painting but closer to a capriccio or fantastical composition. I set it inside a church-like interior. There are hidden meanings distributed throughout the composition. Oils on canvas Approx 60 x 70 cm (?) Approx: 1998/9 (?)

  • Beltaine

    Celtic / pagan celebration around May Day in the Uk and northern hemisphere when tribes drove livestock over flaming embers, probably in a ritual of cleansing & or of a moment of renewal ( Springtime). Oils on canvas Approx: 50 x 60 cm (?) Approx: 2010(?)

  • Epona

    Named after the Celtic goddess associated with a cult of the horse. I took the chalk hill figure of the White Horse of Uffington in southern England as the motif. The blues are an allusion to the other world. Oils on canvas Approx 50 x 70cm Approx: 2000. Sadly LOST in transit and whereabouts unknown!

Blog

Avalon and Glastonbury Tor

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Halcyon - Kingfisher

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Cropredy 2024

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CAI - Cornwall Artist Index

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The Sniper Zone Rip

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Archives

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CAI Cornwall Artists Index

Image © Jill Swarbrick-Banks Title: Calon yr afon Visit the Galleries page and scroll down to read more about this painting.

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'Changing Seasons' by Emma-Jayne Holmes-Jones

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We will also be featuring our friend, the engaging and incredibly talented Welsh painter Emma-Jayne Holmes-Jones BA., MA. @ the Cropredy Festival on the Foxer Fine Art stall. Emma will be there in person to meet and greet you and to sell you her sumptuous landscapes. She will also be up to all sorts of creative workshops and happenings and getting you involved in Art. She's a much sought-after tutor around North Wales, operating out of her wonderful studio at Cefn Mawr near Wrexham. Emma joined JSB last year at Cropredy but this year she joined me showing her gorgeous work with Foxer Fine Art alongside JSB. Here is Emma-Jayne with the utterly adorable HENRY! X

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Cropredy Crowd

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The chalk stream series 2024

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Ceunant/Gorge

Ceunant / Gorge Hanging at last in its new home in Winchester as of yesterday 3/5/2024. Inspired by the slate mining industry of mid wales. Great to see it blazing away again!

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Contact & sales

FOXER Fine Art on behalf of J.A. Swarbrick-Banks All the paintings on this site are strictly the © copyright of Jill Swarbrick-Banks and may not be downloaded, reproduced or used in any manner without prior written permission by Jill Swarbrick-Banks. To enquire on projects, availability for exhibitions & talks, prices of the paintings, order greeting cards or giclée prints, or just enquire without obligation about any of the content on this site... please fill in the form below. Thank you. 

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