jo watters-pawlowski

I am a contemporary abstract landscape painter based in Ditchling, Sussex, working primarily in oil.

My work is rooted in a lifelong fascination with landscape and how our experience of a place becomes intertwined with memory, emotion and imagination.

I am particularly drawn to the landscapes of Sussex and the South Downs. Walking through the landscape, observing changes in light and weather, and experiencing the passage of the seasons all feed into my painting practice. I am not just focused on replicating what I observe; instead, I aim to delve into the emotions a landscape evokes and capture what lingers in our memory after we have left it.

My paintings evolve through a process of layering, building up and scraping back paint, allowing colour, texture and gestural marks to accumulate on the surface. The process is intuitive and exploratory. As a painting develops, the original landscape may become increasingly abstract, leaving behind fragments of colour, form and atmosphere.

I am interested in the space between recognition and abstraction — the point at which a painting may suggest a landscape without describing a particular place.

My background in textile design has also had a lasting influence on my approach to painting. Colour, pattern, texture and the relationship between different elements remain important to the way I work. This experience continues to inform my sensitivity to colour and surface, while painting allows me to explore these qualities more intuitively and expansively.

I work from my studio in Ditchling, Sussex, where I develop new paintings throughout the year. I hold two solo exhibitions each year, at my open house gallery and studio.

The Landscape

Landscape is at the heart of my practice.

I am drawn to the familiar and the fleeting: a particular quality of light, a distant horizon, the colours of a field after rain, the movement of clouds or the changing atmosphere of a day.

These experiences become starting points rather than subjects to be faithfully reproduced. Through painting, I explore how a remembered landscape can be transformed into something more abstract and personal.

The Painting Process

I work primarily in oil paint, building paintings through a process of layering, responding and editing.

I often begin intuitively, allowing the painting to develop through colour and mark-making. Layers are added, removed and reworked. Areas of the surface may be scraped back, revealing traces of earlier decisions beneath.

This process creates a sense of depth and history within the painting. The final work is not a literal representation of a particular landscape, but an accumulation of experience, memory and imagination.

Exhibitions

I hold two solo exhibitions each year and have exhibited my work in Sussex and beyond.

You can explore current and past exhibitions, as well as selected paintings from my studio practice, through the links below.

Exhibitions

Paintings

JUNE 2026-Sussex Craft Week Open Studio 20th to 27th Elaine Bolt Ceramics, Pollards Farm Studio, Sussex Open 11 am to 5 pm

MAY 2026 - ARTISTS OPEN HOUSE No.37, 37 High Street, Ditchling BN6 8SY‍ Weekends in May: 2/3 9/10 16/17 23/24 Bankholiday Monday: 4th and 25th. OPEN 11 am to 5 pm

JANUARY 2026: WAC | Watters Archer Collective ‍ ‍Stand B8 at FRESH Art Fair - Alexander Palace, London. 30 January - 1 February. Preview evening 29 January 5 to 9 pm

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SEPTEMBER 2025Artwave Festival, Open House Gallery No37 High Street, Ditchling BN6 8SY Weekends only 6th - 21st September Open 11 - 5

MAY 2025 The Space Between - TARPEY GALLERY Contemporary Fine Art 31st MAY - 20th JUNE www.tarpeygallery.com

MAY 2025 N0.37 Artists Open Houses, 37 High Street Ditchling, BN6 8SY

Fresh: Art Fair Alexandra Palace WAC Collective with guest artists 31 January - 2 February 2025 11.00 am - 6.00 pm

MAY 2024 N0.37 gallery, 37, High Street, Ditchling, BN6 8SY

JULY 2024 WAC Collective,Hay-on-Wye

Tarpey Gallery Open 2024

SEPTEMBER 2024 Artwave Festival,

SPRINGCheltenham 2023 WAC Artists

WAC Artists N0.37, Ditchling, East Sussex BN6 8SY

ARTWAVE FESTIVAL 30th Anniversary 2023

2023 Selected for Celebrate Cuckmere Haven: Wild Blue Spaces

SPRING Cheltenham Small Works Show 11 - 31 December 2023

The Regency town House, 40th aniversary Artists Open Houses, 13 Brunswick Square, Hove BN3 1EH 12-29 May 2022

Email: jowp.art@gmail.com
follow @jowatterspawlowskiartist
Contact: 07926 082354

https://aoh.org.uk/93389-2/ Ditchling Artist Jo Watters-Pawlowski Artists Open House 2022 Blog

My paintings draw inspiration from the British landscape, with a particular focus on the South Downs in Sussex. Rather than depicting specific places, I seek to interpret the emotional connection I feel with the land. Through layers of oil paint, texture, and colour, I explore the shapes, patterns, roads, tracks, and boundaries that define the landscape, allowing passages of abstraction to emerge alongside recognisable forms.

Work is professionally framed in a bespoke frame. The frame's colour is carefully chosen to complement the undertones detected in each piece.

Small paintings are a staple in my collection, often representing an idea that can form the foundation for more extensive work.

All work is professionally framed in bespoke hand-sprayed wooden frames, finished colour, white or off-white matt.

Please DM for further information.

Work on paper using oil, inks, and other mediums. They are professionally framed in bespoke hand-finished frames using museum glass.

I have paper work unframed available.

Please DM for further information.

My paintings are inspired by the landscapes I walk through and return to, capturing not a particular view but the lasting impression of being immersed in a place. Working between observation, memory and intuition, I create contemporary abstract landscapes that seek to distil atmosphere, rhythm and the changing qualities of light and land.

Originally trained as a textile designer and surface printer, I developed a strong understanding of colour, composition and mark-making that continues to influence my painting practice. Sketches and colour notes made outdoors become the starting point for paintings that evolve slowly in the studio, where the landscape is simplified and reimagined through layers of oil paint.

The physical process of painting is central to my work. Using brushes, palette knives, squeegees and drawing tools, I build, scrape back and rework the surface over time. The slow drying nature of oil paint allows each painting to develop through reflection and response, revealing unexpected relationships between colour, gesture and form.

Rather than depicting a specific location, my paintings explore the emotional resonance of landscape—those moments when memory and experience become inseparable from place. Through abstraction, I invite the viewer to bring their own memories and connections, creating a shared space between the landscape I have experienced and the one they imagine.

Email: jowp.art@gmail.com to ask about specific paintings or call direct on 07926 082354 for any other enquiries.

To represent the interests of each client, I am happy to arrange art consultations and studio visits. 

Not all of my work is shown on my website.