Jane Lewis

24/01/2026

SERPENT
oil on linen
16" x 20" / 41cm x 51cm

Details of the painting I posted yesterday. I spent a quite a long time reworking this picture that was originally begun in 2024 - when I repainted the face I added heart-shaped lipstick.
www.janelewisartist.com

23/01/2026

SERPENT
oil on linen
16" x 20" / 41cm x 51cm

I began this painting in 2024, but after thinking I'd finished it I continued to have a niggling feeling of dissatisfaction. So, many months later in 2025 I decided to rework it by repainting in particular the face, costume and snake. I managed to complete it at the very end of 2025 and feel happier with the result. Being an oil painting, I've set it aside to dry for a very long time before varnishing and framing!

www.janelewisartist.com

06/01/2026

PANDORA
watercolour on paper

Rebuilding my website recently, I reviewed a lot of images from way back to include in the site's Archive gallery. This watercolour is from 1985 when I participated in an exhibition called Pandora's Box at the Chisenhale Gallery in London. It was an interesting and eventful year - I also had a 12 month residency with Kent Opera and met gallerist Nicholas Treadwell.
www.janelewisartist.com

01/01/2026

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
New year, new website. My website has been offline for a month while being redesigned and updated. It now has a more up-to-date look, is easier to navigate, and contains a comprehensive overview of 50 years of artwork - 1976-2026!
View it here:

Explore the artistic creations of Jane Lewis, a talented visual artist. Discover unique work in painting, drawing, printmaking and video.fds

04/10/2025

The Treadwell Gallery's new exhibition ME, ME, ME, ARTIST SELF-PORTRAITS opened today 4th October at the Art Mill, Csello Muhle, Oslip, Austria. My own self-portrait as a child is included, entitled SELF-PORTRAIT AT THE AGE OF TWO, WITH AN APPLE AND A TOY BIRD.

31/07/2025

INKY THE OCTOPUS
conte crayon and watercolour on paper
16” x 19.75” / 43.5cm x 45.5cm

Writer and animal rights activist Sarat Colling commissioned me and several other artists to contribute artwork for a book she was writing about animal resistance. The book was to feature
stories of animals who have resisted human oppression in various ways, accompanied by illustrations of the animals. The intention of the book was to acknowledge and celebrate animals’ powerful resistance, and to inspire people to think more deeply about the lives and plight of animals in our society.
Sarat, a young woman of talent and promise who had already published other groundbreaking illustrated books on animal rights, died in tragic circumstances earlier this year on 16th May. I hope that her latest book will eventually be published as a memorial to her.
In the meantime this is my own contribution, which illustrates the story of Inky the octopus who was found injured (two tentacles had somehow been amputated) and taken to the National Aquarium in New Zealand. One night Inky climbed out of his tank, travelled eight feet across the floor and squeezed through a small hole into a drainpipe which ultimately opened into Hawke Bay where he escaped to the ocean.
I chose Inky because I wanted the challenge of depicting an octopus, a subject I had never tackled before. To research I read about and watched videos of octopuses and became both fascinated and deeply respectful of such wonderful creatures.

28/07/2025

SELF-PORTRAIT AT THE AGE OF TWO, WITH AN APPLE AND A TOY BIRD
After a painting by Caesar van Everdingen
watercolour on paper
11” x 18.25” / 28cm x 46.5cm

Gallerist Nicholas Treadwell asked me to contribute a new work for his exhibition “Me, Me, Me, Artists’ Self-Portraits” which will open on 4th October at Treadwell’s Art Mill, Csello Mühle, Oslip Austria.
I decided to portray my two year old self in a costume and pose inspired by a painting I saw by Caesar van Everdingen of a two year old boy at Cannon Hall Museum in South Yorkshire.
I produced my first ever drawing at the age of two, the only childhood artwork of mine that my mother kept (scroll through these photos to see it). She gave me pencil and paper for the first time and was surprised by the result. From then on she knew how to keep me occupied.
The red and black splashes in the present painting, my first in watercolour for many years and completed 70 years after my first artwork, indicate my future life in painting.

27/07/2025

Joining the shortlisted artists is Jane Lewis with the piece 'Harpies'.

Born in London Jane moved to Yorkshire in 1988 and was awarded a Fellowship in Drawing by the Henry Moore Foundation in Leeds, receiving funding from Arts Council England and was commissioned by Standard Chartered Bank.

About her work Jane Lewis said: "As I get older I work more and more slowly, so that I now produce just one or two paintings each year besides drawings. The work in this exhibition, Harpies, took several months to complete. I have used the harpy as a subject a few times.

She is a mythical creature, sometimes a wind spirit, often connected with the underworld. She is usually depicted as a bird with the head and breasts of a woman – one of my harpies is such, the other has a beast-like head. Harpies were known for their swift flight and as agents of punishment. They could also prophesise."

'Harpies' is on display as part of the Summer Exhibition of the North at the 1912 mill at Sunny Bank Mills until 10 August.

👉 https://newlight-art.org.uk/the-new-light-summer-exhibition-2025/

08/07/2025

A reminder that my painting 'Harpies' is currently on show in the New Light Summer Exhibition of the North. The exhibition opened today and runs from 8th July to 10th August at the 1912 Mill, Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds.
Here are some detail photos of the painting.

04/07/2025

I’m delighted that my painting ‘Harpies’ was selected by judge Linnet Rubaya to be included in the New Light Summer Exhibition of the North. The exhibition will be held at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, Leeds from the 8th July to the 19th August 2025 and will feature works by artists who have connections with the north of England, through birth, education or residence - I have lived in Yorkshire for 37 years.
‘Harpies’ is in oil on linen, and its dimensions are:
24" x 36" / 61cm x 91.5cm

https://newlight-art.org.uk