Sue Ransley

I'm a people painter, occasionally portraiture, but mostly observational work of everyday folk - think real, not the ideal (i.e. moobs and muffintops) - taking a lighter look at life, aiming to capture our warmth and humanity. My focus is on that recognisable behaviour, or moment, that tells a familiar story. Oh, and I'm an unashamed colourist! The majority of my work is in oil or acrylic, just occasionally water based media. In oil and acrylics I start by drawing with paint, the drawn lines forming part of the finished piece. With watercolour I do no drawing - I take a deep breath and go straight into the masses with a loaded brush - it's very zen, hence it doesn't happen often ;) All the moments captured are those I have seen for myself when I'm out and about with a sketchbook and camera to hand. Whilst I was a Blue Peter kid, always painting and pasting, my art then took a back seat as life, career & family took over, until an illness in 2004 forced me to stop work. In 2005 I joined an art group as a way back to myself, & was blessed with a brilliant teacher & mentor. Within 2 years I was exhibiting & selling. In recent years I have exhibited in London, Deal, Chester, Rye, Guildford, Worthing, Folkestone, Berlin, and Kettinge in Denmark; been a regular at AppArt & The Arundel Gallery Trail; a finalist in Artrooms (2017), The Holly Bush Emerging Woman Painting Prize (2018 and 2019), the winner of the Creates Magazine Emerging Artist Prize (2019), and, very proudly, a finalist in Surrey Artist of the Year 2021 and 2023!!