Vanessa Bowman Exhibition 2024

VANESSA BOWMAN & ESTÉ MACLEOD EXHIBITION

Vanessa Bowman

In her latest work Vanessa continues to capture, in glorious colour, the pleasures and purposefulness of rural life - inspired by the surroundings of her native Dorset. Her subject matter and titles evoke recognisable everyday events: ‘Blackberrying’, ‘The Village Dog Show’, ‘Open Gardens’, ‘Apple Picking’. They reflect the seasons, the familiar, the events that punctuate life in the countryside; but her treatment of these ordinary scenes is far from mundane.

Instead, her dynamic style reveals a sophisticated appreciation of the power of colour and space. Using delicate brush strokes, rich with detail, Vanessa creates vivid, vibrant landscapes, inviting the viewer to look again to find some new element previously missed.

Vanessa also offers a contemporary take on the still-life genre, resulting in bold, energetic, joyful compositions. Freshly cut flowers take centre stage, often sourced from the artist’s garden, where she works from her studio.

Born in 1970 into a family with a long-standing artistic tradition, Vanessa graduated from Winchester School of Art with First Class Honours in 1993. She worked for ten years in printed textile design, selling to worldwide markets, before committing to painting full-time after settling with her husband and family in West Dorset.

Vanessa has won many art prizes for her stunning work, which has been used for several illustration projects, including House and Gardens magazine, Highgrove Estate, and Farrow & Ball. She is represented through Bridgeman Images, and her work is also used in merchandising.