Judy Joel
York Cathedral
Gouache on 300lb paper 50cm x 50cm
This was an unusual view of York Cathedral, which I saw when I visited for the first time.
About
Judy was brought up in a large and happy family where drawing and painting and being creative were always encouraged.
After school she followed a career at the BBC as a Production Assistant, and enjoyed researching programmes, filming on location, and studio days at the Television Centre.
She left the exciting world of television in 1971, and she and her husband moved to Molesey in Surrey with their Jack Russell puppy and then began the exciting world of Motherhood with Tim, born in 1971 and Beth, 1974. That was when she started to paint.
She had no training as an artist but painted what felt right and what she enjoyed. Commissions and exhibitions followed, and in 2023, she was commissioned by the Royal Mail to design the Christmas stamps for 2024. She and her family have The Joel Gallery in Mousehole, Cornwall, where they live.
Judy enjoys painting commissions, especially of weddings, houses, and life stories. In all her paintings, she puts the figure of her white-haired Mum with a dog.
Contact: littlepicturegallery@gmail.com
Eton School 4th June on the River
40cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb paper
Every June 4th, there is a fabulous festival at Eton College by the River.
It originally commemorated the birthday of King George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820 and was a significant benefactor of Eton College. The celebrations at Eton have evolved into a broader festival that honors the school’s traditions and community.
I was lucky enough to be asked by one of the senior boys organising the festival if I could attend, photograph the event, and paint it.
Having filled ourselves to the brim with a delicious picnic, my husband and I headed over to the river to witness the headline event: the Procession of Boats. The spectacle was nothing short of amazing. Rowers from all years, wearing extravagant garments and flower-bedecked hats, faced the challenge of standing up on the boats. All the boats managed to succeed and were met each time with a warm round of applause.
Bowling Club in Newlyn Cornwall
Bowling Club at Newlyn Cornwall
40cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
This is a common sight on the road leading from Penzance to Newlyn on the way to Mousehole, where I live. I painted this picture and sold it at The Wren Gallery in Burford. Soon after, I was asked to try to paint another similar one. Bowling is very popular down here.
Madeliines Garden
40cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
My husband was a production designer for BBC Television. Sometimes, I went with him on location and went to all the lovely locations he often used to use. Madelaine had a lovely garden and whilst filming was going on inside the house I enjoyed it and painted it.
The Paddock at Ascot
50cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
This is a painting I did of Ascot before it was changed significantly. I plan to do a new version of it with the new architecture.
St Michael’s Mount Cornwall
40cm x 40cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
This was a simple painting of one of my favourite places close to Mousehole
Ski Whizz
60cm x 60cm
Oil on board and framed
This painting is my second only oil painting. I enjoyed the challenge and hope to do some more paintings with oil on board soon.
David’s Farm and Life Story
50cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
David has been a friend for many years, since we grew up in Chichester. He had a farm called “Pumpbottom Farm.” We had lost touch for years, but then we met up again. He commissioned me to paint his childhood memories on the farm for himself and his son Liam. In the painting, there was a “memory” he wanted me to depict because it was so special. It appears just below the centre point of the painting. He and Liam were sitting on a bale of hay in front of a gate. On the gate was a robin. It was one of the brief memories he wanted me to paint, along with his parents and other people, including the eels that used to run along the stream.
Allotments above Mousehole
50 x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
This was a painting of an imagined allotment above Mousehole. Someone saw it and wanted me to paint a similar one of their own allotment above mousehole . I love to paint trees and flowers. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t!
Life Story for Jason (commission)
40cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
This was a life story commission for Jason, arranged by his wife for his 40th birthday. It includes his childhood pop group activities, the cruises he enjoyed, and a disastrous holiday in Cumbria when his car broke down on one of the passes. There are also weddings, swimming pools, ferret racing, and holidays on long boats. I love doing commissions for people, and although I rarely meet those I work for, I often feel as if I know them once I have finished their commissions.
Life Story for Mick
A friend of ours in Mousehole, who had seen other paintings and life commissions of mine, asked me to paint a large life story for her husband’s 70th birthday.
It was enormously complicated and included more details than I had ever needed to include in a painting before.
Their houses, schools, the police station where they met, their parents, their children and grandchildren, their friends, their gardens, their holidays, Freddie Mercury, Paris, the Concorde, fireworks- so many things. I had about 100 photographs to work from to create the entire picture, and it took months to complete.
They kept thinking of other things to add. In the end, it turned out to be one of my most successful paintings, and I was very proud of it. There is a YouTube film of me describing the painting in more detail. You can find it on YouTube: Judy Joel Life Story Paintings. It is a very wooden performance from me, but it explains how I can depict a person’s life in one painting.
The Riverside at Walton on Thames.
40cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
I had several happy years of having a ten-day exhibition at the Boathouse Gallery here on the River Thames at Walton. The gallery was small and beautiful and right on the towpath. Next door was a great pub, and another one was around the corner, so there was a lot of passing trade. One year, I sold all my paintings. Sometimes in the evening, we used to have a little barbecue on the steps just outside the gallery, and people would come by and join in.
Cricket at Lords
40cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
I have painted this scene many times! The first time I did, I made the mistake of painting my Mum and her dog in the stands. I was told that no women were allowed up there! So I had to put her somewhere else. My mum appears in all my paintings with her dog.
Family Ski Holiday
30cm x 60cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
This painting was a commission for my sister and her husband. It has all the family in it too, and also mine. The drag lift has one family going up the slope. In the chair lifts, there is one for each of my sister’s children and their families. My Mum is building a snowman on the bottom right and also a local character that lives in Mousehole is shown on the slopes skiing down the piste with one leg,.!
The Pagoda at Kew
26cm x 15cm
Gouache on 300lb watercolour paper
I was asked to paint the pagoda for a Christmas card design. Later, I did other Kew Garden designs for the same card company.
The Association of British Naïve Artists,
c/o Noah’s Ark,
Abbey Place, Mousehole,
Cornwall, TR19 6PQ
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