Sal JONES, Painter

Sal is a contemporary figurative painter working in oils. Her paintings are about the human condition, our weaknesses and strengths, our emotional turmoil and contradictions; portrayed through the depiction of fictional subjects influenced by film and popular culture. Narratives are not necessarily explicit, inviting the viewer to invent and connect with the subjects.

Sal has a BA Hons in Fine Art and a PGCE in Art & Design. She is a freelance Artist, Museum educator and exam board Assessment Associate. Sal has exhibited widely in London and the UK, in selected and solo shows. Works are held in private collections in the UK and internationally.

"My oil paintings are figurative, expressive and take the form of portraiture, although I consider them a different take on the genre. ​I use photographic source imagery as starting points for paintings, collecting and manipulating and finally selecting those that resonate with me on some level. I use the paint to draw directly on the canvas then build up layers from washes to more gestural mark making, often combining brushwork with palette knife. I invent colour palettes and marks that are emotive to the subject, experimenting with textures and techniques and using different tools to apply the paint. 

I work on both large and small scales; the size and surface I am working on also dictate the processes used; it is an intuitive approach, both fascinating and challenging in equal amounts. I find painting a visual way to comment on contemporary life. The sources I select reference the cross-over between the fictional and the real in a society where the two appear to have become ever-more confused."