Sam B. Kennedy Art, Woking (2026)

08/06/2026

Happy World Oceans Day!

Here's a look at the Drink & Draw session I ran this weekend at . The theme was 'Oceans Deep' and it was fantastic to see so much creativity (and coffee) flowing!

I run two sessions a month for . The next one is 16th June at the Boileroom. It's a relaxed atmosphere and great for having a good chat with like-minded people.

03/06/2026

'The Sardine Sentinel' is the third painting which is on display for a few more days at FaB Festival. This painting is part of the 'Urban Animals' series, which explores the fragility of ecosystems forced to coexist with human life. I aim to highlight the compromises wildlife must make to survive in altered landscapes, and how we, in turn, might reconsider our role in their survival.

For the exhibition at FaB, I reimagined the exhibition text from the perspective of a future historian. It was great fun to think about how today's world may be looked back on, what future generations will misinterpret or see differently with hindsight. Here is the exhibition blurb I wrote for 'The Sardine Sentinel':

This important historical image documents the late stages of puffin domestication during the early 21st century, a period in which humans increasingly intervened in natural feeding cycles to support vulnerable seabird populations.

Prior to human assistance, puffins were believed to endure difficult seasonal fluctuations in food availability, particularly during colder months when fish stocks became harder to access. Benevolent intervention through large-scale fishing and canning operations allowed humans to provide reliable, shelf-stable nourishment year-round, ensuring puffins no longer needed to undertake the exhausting and uncertain labour of catching fresh fish themselves. Historians now regard the sardine tin as one of the defining symbols of interspecies care during this time.

It should be noted that puffins became extinct shortly after the widespread introduction of intensive commercial fishing and marine canning practices in the early 21st century. Current scholarship maintains that this timing was almost certainly coincidental, and unrelated to humanity’s successful efforts to harvest, package, and distribute the puffin’s primary food source on an unprecedented scale.

27/05/2026

To celebrate 'Seagull Sundae' being on display at FaB Festival, I've put together some 'making of' clips so you can see this piece come together.

'Seagull Sundae' is a mixed media painting that celebrates colour, seaside nostalgia, and cheeky seagulls. I used a combination of oil paint, acrylics, spray paint, pastels, and collage to build the piece, layer by layer.

It's currently on display as part of an exhibition at FaB which imagines itself as a future history exhibit looking back at our current decade. It was great to revisit my finished painting with an additional act of creativity, approaching the piece this time to give it a new narrative, through the lens of a future historian. Here's how I reimagined 'Seagull Sundae' for the exhibition text:

This rare cultural artefact depicts the ancient British seagull engaging with what historians now believe to have been a vital component of its natural diet: the rapidly melting frozen dessert. Rich in dairy, refined sugars, and synthetic food colourings, such offerings appear to have provided essential sustenance for gull populations inhabiting densely urbanised coastal regions during the early 21st century.

Recent archaeological speculation suggests that the unusually high concentration of preservatives consumed by gulls of the period may also explain why so many surviving specimens have remained remarkably intact. The species’ resilience within polluted and heavily processed food environments has led some researchers to classify the herring gull as one of the defining adaptive organisms of late consumer civilisation.

The saturated palette reflects the visual excesses of the 2020s: an era characterised by overstimulation, nostalgia marketing, and aggressively cheerful indulgence. Bright confectionary tones and melting forms became synonymous with British summers as climate instability intensified and seasonal heatwaves grew increasingly common. Indeed, records indicate that the collapse rate of ice cream structures was widely monitored as an informal measure of atmospheric severity.

'Seagull Sundae', along with 2 other paintings of mine, are on display as part of Fringe Arts Bath Festival until 6th June

24/05/2026

I have three pieces on display at the FaB Festival and opening night was a blast!

Meeting so many amazing artists, curators, and collectors from around the world and sharing my work with them was brilliant. There are loads of great exhibitions up all over the city of Bath, and I encourage you to visit as many venues as you can! Kind of like an art scavenger hunt...

Scroll through for a look at some of the exhibitions, my favourite pieces, and how my work fits into it all.

A huge thanks to curator .darby for selecting me, and to Arran and the amazing team at for having me! Congratulations on such a wonderful festival!

The festival is on until 22nd June. My work is on display at Newark Works, the beautiful new art space just next to the river. Let me know if you pop in to see it!

07/05/2026

Big news!

My painting 'Mulberry Dreams' was one of 6 highly commended pieces at the Portrait Prize Exhibition! I am so grateful and still a little in shock!

The exhibition was a real marvel- 100 artworks by different artists,whittled down from over 800 entries, and the standard was so incredibly high.

Walking in, I felt a little out of my depth... whilst I've been painting wildlife for years, I've only been confident enough to create and share my portrait work for about a year now.

So you can imagine my surprise, when just after they'd awarded the main prizes, they called my name out! I went up to shake the RBSA president's hand and collect a highly commended certificate (which I then held up in every single photo, obviously!)

It's a real boost for me, a sign that I'm on the right track. I'm excited to keep making and sharing my artwork- my goal is to bring vibrancy to the world with my art! I'm so pleased that 'Mulberry Dreams'' had something the judges were looking for!

The exhibition will be up until 13th June at RBSA Gallery, Birmingham. A huge thank you to the team at RBSA for having me and to the three wonderful judges Dr Hannah Higham, Brian Bishop, and Anthony Connolly PRP for seeing something in my work!

05/05/2026

I painted 'Spring Forward' when I was spending a lot of time observing the change of seasons in my garden... Seeing the ice give way to fresh green shoots and bursts of floral colour made me want to capture that beautiful Springtime moment when the sun comes out and everyone feels lighter.

Whilst I was painting, I kept coming back to three central themes: renewal, movement, and fresh possibility.

The bright green was always going to be there- it felt alive and so much like the daffodil stalks working their way out of the ground. However, the lavender took me by surprise! I really enjoyed experimenting with a shadow that was so light in value, and the contrast between the warm and cool tones reminds me of the sudden temperature differences you can get when the sun goes behind the clouds this time of year!

Working with colour in bold blocks, playing with texture and pattern- this painting reminded me how freeing it is to step back, simplify, and follow inspiration wherever it leads.

'Spring Forward' is a celebration of growth, colour, and the quiet thrill of seeing the world (and your work) with fresh eyes.🌱💜

PlayingWithColor RabbitArt RabbitPainting OriginalArt WildlifeArt

01/05/2026

Yesterday I delivered my artwork to the RBSA Gallery in the heart of Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Whilst there, I explored the gallery and found so many wonderful artists' work on display. I particularly enjoyed the thoughtful needle felted pieces by and the calm water paintings by

I'm so excited to head back to the next week for the Private View of the Portrait Prize exhibition. It's such a thrill to be involved!

22/04/2026

Let me tell you about this painting...

'Two for Joy' piece is part of my 'Urban Animals' series which looks at the relationship between humans and animals- how our manmade environment impacts the wildlife around us and vice versa.

I count magpies religiously in my every day life, according to the superstitious tale. To me, magpies are a symbol of fate and freedom. Whilst painting, I made sure to build up both magpies evenly so I'd never have just one magpie on the canvas as a bad omen.

'Two for Joy' combines a variety of media (acrylics, inks, oils, spray paints, and more) which I feel creates a vibrant and energetic piece full of life. To me, the textured background brings to mind a car park wall, ready to be brought to life with graffiti.

The lower part of the canvas is purposefully darker- it is as if the magpies are flying up and into the light, suggesting good fortune is within reach. The bright pops of popping pink spray paint are there to connect the magpies, and you'll see the theme of pairs and connection echoed throughout this image. I wanted the entire image to feel balanced, like a visual partnership.

With this painting, I took a really intuitive approach. I had a plan for how I wanted to lay out the composition, but when it came to rendering the birds, I got into a flow state and would work away for hours and hours, tuning out and letting the painting tell me when it was ready.

I want to create oil paintings that feel fresh and relevant, with bold & experimental markmaking, to break the stigma that oil paintings have to be perfectly blended and 'historical-looking'. It's such a versatile medium, and I love seeing how I can pair it with other paints to create something quite different.

This painting had its' first big debut back in 2023 in London. It was selected by the Royal Society of British Artists to appear in their Rising Stars exhibition, and has since been shown around Surrey and London. It's currently on display at Art & Grind Guildford, where I have a solo show in their gallery space until 4th May. The vivid neon pinks are hard to capture properly in photographs, so I'd encourage having a look in person if you're in the area!

Sam B. Kennedy Art

08/06/2026

03/06/2026

27/05/2026

24/05/2026

07/05/2026

05/05/2026

01/05/2026

22/04/2026

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