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 :)