Top 50 Leeds Artists and their Featured Art

I'm Janice, an illustrator based in Leeds. My work focuses on visual storytelling inspired by the places I've visited, people I've met, and feelings I've felt. My drawings are little love letters/thank you notes to every place and person I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a moment with. Sometimes they are drawings of feelings that can only be translated into pictures and not words, sometimes they are illustrations depicting details that have caught my eye and want to cherish forever.

In January 2020, I ruptured my Achilles tendon. Being immobilised and signed off work, I started to draw every day, and I haven't stopped since: it's now the reason I get out of bed in the morning. It might seem strange, even disgraceful, for a man in his late 30s to start pursuing an artistic pathway. An archetypal mid-life crisis. But there is nothing inherently bad about a crisis: Yes, there is danger and difficulty, but also, potentially, a turning point and a renewal. In terms of my artistic perspective, I am interested in urban sketching and illustration. My work aims to capture the liveliness of our environment, with a strong emphasis on play and more than a hint of anarchy.

I was born in North Yorkshire and I have lived in Leeds since 1997 after time overseas in Canada and Australia. I have had many different jobs, most recently as a teacher of English as a second language. I am now semi-retired and thus have more time to devote to other interests. I have always been interested in creative activities and after taking a training course in fused glass I have found a material that suits me well, involving colours and technical skills. I have moved on from smaller projects to larger bowls, dishes and plaques and I aim to incorporate recycled glass in future work. My ideas stem from nature, books, the internet and sometimes serendipity!

Andrew Allsop is a Leeds based artist working to capture snapshots of the city he loves. He predominantly workis in ink and paints; sketching, painting and screen printing. His work looks at both the grand architecture and the everyday scenes that make his northern home unique.

Felt Artist Janine Jacques has a love of beautiful landscapes which began at a young age. Having grown up on a Lincolnshire farm, her bedroom over looked an amazing view of the rolling fields, this is where her love for landscapes began. She kept many animals including four pet sheep, now her main medium of choice is wool. Janine’s work combines her training in painting with the ancient art of felt-making to celebrate and bring together the different skills of wet felting, needle felting and sewing. She uses wool to ‘paint’ with, needle felting to refine the detail and embellishes with hand embroidery. Janine’s statement pieces are created using many different materials. Her artwork is inspired by photographs of the landscapes she has visited. Each piece is unique, evoking memories of a past time and place. Janine graduated from University in 1996 with a BA (Hons) Fine Art, gained a P.G.C.E. in Secondary Art Education and worked for many years in web design before returning to the studio to follow her passion and inspire others through a programme of felt making workshops. She now lives and works near Leeds in West Yorkshire - within easy reach of the beautiful countryside.

Chris is a Leeds born artist who started her formal training at Leeds College of Art gaining a distinction in Foundation studies before going on to achieve a BA Hons in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from Reading University. After a career in teaching she began painting full time in 2016. She paints from a Leeds City Centre studio which is also home to ‘Leeds Print Workshop’ from where she both produces her mono prints and teaches printmaking. Although not exclusively a portrait artist, the figure is a dominant subject of both her painting and printmaking. Her method of working is both traditional and contemporary. She loves to use her iPad for drawing and planning her paintings and prints. When transferring these ideas and observations to canvas she prefers the lusciousness of oils. Her style is economical so that only those things deemed essential are brought to the fore in the composition. Visit her website for contact details and for more information on forthcoming exhibitions.

In Charlotte’s gallery you will find watercolour landscapes, acrylic abstracts, oil paintings and more! Charlotte’s love for colour and the feelings of happiness and pure joy it can evoke shines through in her paintings. Born and bred in Leeds, Yorkshire, the local scenery and vivid pops of colour in nature have long inspired Charlotte’s work…bright, bold and beautiful. Charlotte is predominantly a self taught, mixed media artist. Her work has evolved through experimenting with different mediums and colour pallets, following intuition and refining techniques. All her paintings are created in her home studio in Leeds, you can see ‘behind the scenes’ and ‘work in progress’ pictures on her social media.