I am doing a 30 day sketchathon in aid of LGBT+ people caught up in the Ukraine war. I will set up a gallery here shortly but for now if you would like to donate and see the sketches go to
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bev-jones-sketchathon
The person making the biggest donation each day gets the sketch.
Every now and then I take on commissions for paintings. Most of those I accept are for scenes in the Croydon area but sometimes I paint places in Greater London or Surrey.
I like to include people in my paintings like this one where the couple wanted a painting of themselves walking their dog. It was great fun to work on and I’m glad to say they really liked it too, It’s called Walking Mr Pugs.
Here are some other commissioned images
Lots of rain paintings lately.
The Market In Sunshine will be on show alongside 400+ other artworks at the Chelsea Town Hall this week. I haven’t taken part in this show for a couple of years so it’s nice to be back in what is always a busy event with lots of great artworks on display.
Details for the show are:
Chelsea Old Town Hall, King’s Road, Chelsea, SW3 5EE
| Friday October 26th | Open to public – 10am to 7pm |
| Saturday October 27th | Open to public – 10am to 7pm |
| Sunday October 28th | Open to Public – 10am to 5pm |
| Monday October 29th | Open to Public – 10am to 2pm |
As part of the 30th birthday celebrations for the wonderful charity ‘Studio Upstairs‘ I have donated one of may paintings for a raffle this October. Tickets are £5 and the lucky winner will walk away with an original painting.
The painting’ Rain Dance’ is of shoppers running between the ‘Central’ and ‘Whitgift’ shopping centers in Croydon during a summer rain storm. The draw will take place on the 28th October and tickets can be purchased online from the Studio Upstairs Gallery Page.
Studio Upstairs provides access to great art materials, studio space and support for people with mental or emotional support needs. They have studios Bristol and London including one in central Croydon.
Anywhere can be beautiful. ‘Beautiful Moments’ shows Clifford Road behind Norwood Junction Station at sunset with a young couple walking happily together into the evenings adventures.
You can see the original painting as part of my show at the Paxton Center in Crystal Palace this June.
We all have times when we need refuge.
In 2017 Croydon Council undertook works on the site of Surrey Street Market and for a few months stalls were displaced around central Croydon. Most of the stalls wound up as refugees looking rather out of place on the North End.
For a long time Croydon has been well known to UK immigrants because of the presence of Lunar House, headquarters of UK visa and Immigration service, on Wellesley Road. I’m not sure if it’s true that this is why we are such a diverse borough but it makes a neat soundbite. Usually all Croydonians rub along with one another fairly peacefully so it was pretty shocking in April 2017 to hear of two young lads being attacked by a mob apparently for being refugees.
The reference shots for this picture were taken as people gathered for a march organised by ‘Stand Up to Racism’ following the attack. I wasn’t interested in painting the march itself but found so much going on around me which spoke of how we all need safe places and support at different times in our lives.
‘Refuge’ is one of a number of paintings I will be sharing as featured artist at Studio Upstairs this Feb/March.
I was really happy a few weeks back to receive the news that my painting of Brixton Market ‘ Overlooked’ has been highly commended by the Patchings Art Prize this year. This also means it is entered in the ‘Peoples Choice Awards’ at Patchings. You can vote at patchings art centre awards
I love painting rain and I love painting markets so perhaps it was inevitable that when I found myself delivering paintings to the Menier Gallery one wet Monday that I would wind up around the corner at Borough Market taking references for a painting.
I love the colours, the business and the close interactions between people that you get at all markets but each one also has it’s own character. Being at London Bridge in the heart of the busiest part of central London has definitely shaped Borough and you will never here the common market refrain of ‘Pound a Bowl’ at Borough! Tourists enjoying the look of the beautifully laid out stalls and well heeled Londoners with specialist dinner parties to throw are much more the order of the day.
I wanted a light hatred holiday mood for the painting with lots of colour and light despite the heavy rain which I depicted by laying down small streaks of bright colours. This worked in an almost pointillist way allowing for optical mixing and keeping the image bright and providing a slightly blurred effect for the background. It was also great fun to paint.
I was delighted to give an interview about my work recently to Tom Cox of Focus LDN who I will be showing with at the Menier Gallery from 28th Feb.
You can find my interview here: http://www.focusldn.com/interviews/bevjones
There are also interviews with lots of the other participating artists and an online catalog so do go take a look at their website. Also if you would like to attend the PV please RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-spring-collection-private-view-tickets-31517797581?ref=ebtn