Louise Gillard

Louise Gillard is a painter and art teacher, living in London. Her work is largely inspired by her immediate surroundings, whether it is the streets and commons near her home in Battersea, the harbours and coastline of the West Country where she grew up, or simply interiors. She prefers painting the ’less obvious’ view – an inconspicuous path through the common, a street corner, a tangle of shadows on the ground – and is ultimately drawn to the effects of light and atmosphere on everyday scenes. Louise paints mostly plein air directly from the subject but sometimes takes small studies back into the studio to create larger works. She usually paints with oils or soft pastels but also uses acrylics, gouache and watercolour. Louise completed a degree in French and Fine Art at the University of Exeter, specialising in painting. Louise has exhibited at the Mall Galleries and Panter & Hall. She has been selected several times for the Pastel Society and Chelsea Art Society annual exhibitions, as well as Art for Youth and the ING Discerning Eye. In 2017 she won the Jacksons Pastel Landscapes competition and, in 2020, was a semi-finalist in Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year.