BIOGRAPHY

Camilla Dowse is based in South Oxfordshire and paints impressionistic urban landscapes, working mainly in acrylic on gesso panels. She studied graphic design at the Berkshire College of Art and for a number of years, alongside her art practice, worked as a picture editor for many of the major book publishers. Her paintings have been selected for exhibition by the New English Art Club, the Bath Art Society, the Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, the Society of Women Artists and the RA Summer Exhibition. In 2014 she was named Artist of the Year by Artists & Illustrators Magazine, she was awarded the Chairman’s Prize at the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition in 2017 and 2018, and was presented with the Neil Meacher RI Award by the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 2018. She’s been a member of the Oxford Art Society since 2022. Camilla travels to gather reference material from all the locations she paints, and sustains herself with ice cream.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

We often find ourselves connected in some way to a building or location, either as a place of sanctuary or somewhere that triggers fond memories of the past. Others could hurry past without giving it a second thought, but for the individual it can resonate on a deeply emotional level. My paintings are an invitation to consider our surroundings, to look beyond the fast pace of life and contemplate the beauty of the built environment. Like the subjects I paint my work is constructed, from the wood surface to the layers of gesso which are sanded to a smooth finish before applying saturated colour to carve areas of light and shadow. By removing the transient elements that are a feature of urban living I hope to create a theatrical impression with narrative potential.