Sue Dewhurst Artist

22/08/2026

Blimey !

Did you know that back in the 18th and 19th centuries, you could walk into the Bigg Market and occasionally find a husband auctioning off his wife?

It sounds like a dark piece of fiction, but 'wife selling' was a very real, documented practice across England – and Newcastle's bustling Bigg Market was a prime location for it.

Back then, a proper legal divorce was impossibly expensive for the working classes, requiring a full Act of Parliament. So, everyday people came up with their own bizarre form of 'folk divorce'. A husband would lead his wife into the market – often with a rope halter around her neck or waist – and publicly auction her off to the highest bidder.

However, it wasn't always as cruel as it sounds. Historians have found that the vast majority of these sales were actually mutually agreed upon. The 'highest bidder' was usually the wife's new lover, and the public auction was just a theatrical, unofficial way to end one marriage and start another in front of the whole community.

The Bigg Market has always been famous for a wild weekend, but does this top the list of the most bizarre things to ever happen there?

19/08/2026

Selecting which of my farmers, barns and cattle are off to a private festival 🎧🚜👩‍🌾
I’m getting a selection of my Rural Lives paintings packed up and ready for the festival — where they’ll be hanging out in the Other Room, a cool jazz vibe so they'll be looking considerably more sophisticated than their creator 😁
These paintings are about the characters, humour, hard graft and changing landscape of rural life — so I’m looking forward to seeing them in completely different surroundings.
🎷 Come and find Rural Lives in the Other Room if you are bound
And if one catches your eye, scan the QR code beside the work to discover more.

16/08/2026

15/08/2026

Meet my co-writer. ❤️☕
This is my mum, aged 90, proudly inspecting our Stick the Kettle On kits at the Ceridwen Centre.
And when I say our, well
Mum helped me write them.
Because who better to help come up with questions about school days, first jobs, courting, family dos, terrible fashions and the things we got up to before anybody had a mobile phone?
The whole idea behind Stick the Kettle On is ridiculously simple:
Make a cuppa. Put the phones down. Ask a better question.
Then listen.
Because tucked away inside the people we think we know are stories we've never actually heard — funny ones, outrageous ones, ordinary ones and occasionally absolute corkers.
And one day, they might be the stories we're very glad we asked about. ❤️
Stick the Kettle On — conversation kits for families, friends and neighbours.
Small batches now available through my website and ArtsatCeridwen (until tomorrow)

12/08/2026

Not all art needs to be highbrow, worthy or terribly serious.

I paint ordinary folk living extraordinary lives — with humour, sass, nostalgia and a fair bit of mischief.

The overlooked. The underestimated. The women with stories you definitely wouldn't repeat in polite company.
If that sounds up your street, come and have a nosey.
👉 Discover the paintings, stories and general goings-on at suedewhurst.co.uk link in bio

11/08/2026

Fabulous exhibition got my eye on some jewellery and glass 👀 oh and a couple of paintings and bought a lovely mug...go if you haven't 😀