2025 Annual Exhibition
It's at at our usual lovely venue, Lauderdale House, from the 29th October (PV evening) until the 24th November. There'll be a selection of paintings we've been working on this year - plein air pictures from in and around London and other works on paper from further afield. We're really looking forward to seeing you! See our artists albums for new images.
Andrew Riley
I was trained to use watercolour in a very controlled way as a Scientific Illustrator at Hornsey College of Art. This led onto a 20 year career as an Illustrator.
I now use watercolour in my landscape painting; sometimes combining it with pastel, gouache and acrylic to achieve different atmospheric effects.
My aim in painting is to evoke a feeling of serenity and harmony with a message of hope for myself as well as for the viewer.
I host watercolour workshops, and am also a member of Islington Art Society.
Brenda McDowell
I like to draw and paint in all mediums and art materials, watercolour is my favourite medium to use.
I enjoy painting in an impressionistic style with a limited palette. I have a website brendamcdowellart.com if you are interested in purchasing my artwork, there is a contact facility.
Chris Baker
My website: https://chrisbakerwatercolours.wordpress.com
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I really love watercolours! Though I've used oil paints and made drawings for a number of years, I now mainly work with liquid media. I make preliminary studies - sketching, taking photos and manipulating my own digital images.
In addition to the group's annual exhibition I've been lucky to have had my work shown at the Mall Galleries, Bankside Gallery and elsewhere.
I've sold locally and as far afield as Australia. Some of the works shown here are for sale and I am very happy to take commissions. (Price lists through my website)
Christian Cook
I work mainly from direct observation. My favourite subjects are urban scenes and landscapes. I paint directly in front of the scene or make drawings which I later develop into paintings in the studio. I also enjoy painting and drawing from the figure and printmaking.
I have painted mainly in London and the south east of England but also abroad in France, Germany, Spain, Greece and India.
The media I use:- watercolour, gouache, pastel, charcoal, acrylic and sometimes collage.
I trained at Camberwell School of Art and The London College of Printing. I taught for some years at the City Lit. and Westminster and Camden Adult Education Institutes.
Website: www.chriscookpaintings2.com
Feroze Antia
I feel as if I have painted all my life. As a child, I visited art galleries regularly and then came home to “copy” what I had seen. At university, unable to afford art material, I cut up magazines to create large paper collage landscapes, exhibiting 20 in Forty Hall, Enfield. Then as a teacher in an inner London school, I painted in oils. In 2008, my wife and I moved to Bangkok and I took up watercolour, a medium I found interesting, challenging and unpredictable. I took a few workshops and developed my own heavy handed, haphazard, deep toned style. My paintings are never delicate or pretty and I paint landscapes generally, but have painted flowers and dogs and the occasional still life. In 2018, I did a series of black and while paintings using powdered charcoal and ink, a messy hit and miss process, but lately I have tried to concentrate on painting landscapes both in watercolour and mini 6”x6” oils. I have had some of my watercolours jury selected for various International Watercolour Society Shows (Japan/Slovenia/Pennsylvania/Indonesia/Thailand/Myanmar) in recent years.
To see more of my work, please go to my website: www.antia-art.co.uk
Jacqueline Freeman
Jacqueline uses ink, watercolour & pencil to explore the natural world.
A fascination with the kingdom of fungi led to two consecutive solo exhibitions, Fungarium, and Fungarium: Rambling On, which ran in July 2024 and July 2025 at The Gallery at The Playroom in London.
Original artwork is available to purchase directly (www.jacquelinefreemanart.com) and at exhibitions. Giclée prints and cards are available to buy on Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/JacquelineFreemanArt
Jacqueline regularly posts on Instagram as @fox.feeder
John Lambie
John graduated in Architecture in 1976. During the recession of 1990-93 he taught himself to paint, and has since successfully entered various competitions and held several exhibitions.
His subject matter is rich and varied, and often inspired by extensive foreign travel. His first one-man show was held in Cork Street – a record of a trip to Rajasthan; the second, paintings of the works of Antonio Gaudi, at the RIBA – this then transferred to Barcelona for the duration of the Olympics. He has also shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, Royal Watercolour Society, Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Equestrian Artists Society, Wildlife Artists Society, Pastel Artists, Royal Horticultural Society, and various private galleries. Examples of his work have appeared in the Guardian, Building Design and Horse and Hound.
His current obsession is with birds, inspired, no doubt, by his hobby of gliding. Artistically he has many influences, from modern day super realists and 1950’s book illustrators, through to the Victorian garden painters and Orientalists. Since joining the Highgate Watercolour Group he has returned to architecture and has embarked on a series of paintings of Highgate’s architectural gems and is happy to take commissions.
Above all, he hopes that the craftsmanship and technique which he values is evident in his work.
www.johnlambie.com @johnarlambie
Judith Pedersen
I rediscovered watercolour painting in 2018, once my sons had grown up. I started painting on an Ashes Tour in Australia. A successful charity auction for Lord’s Taverners gave me confidence to continue. Now regular trips abroad bring in numerous commissions which provide unique memories for those cricket fans who have travelled. In lockdown I launched an Etsy shop:
www.Etsy.com/uk/shop/judithsartshop
Maggie Pettigrew
As a fine artist, I have explored a range of media including, installation, print-making, collage and paint. In my current focus on watercolours, I search for the flow and rhythm in the natural world, exploring techniques for layering water and pigments to represent organic elements such as water, vegetation and sky. I search for the soft rounded shapes and blended colours that are present in natural forms.
Marilyn Southey
I studied fine art in London at the Hornsey College of Art and also studied architecture and art at the University of Westminster. I have been a printmaker
for more than 40 years and a painter for much longer. I paint in oils, pastels and watercolours.
My work has been selected for many open exhibitions in London - among them are The National Print Exhibition, The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition, the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. I have exhibited abroad in France and Cape Town, South Africa and have held
several solo exhibitions in those countries as well as in London. My next solo exhibition will be in the HSLI Gallery in June 2025.
Marilyn Southey - painter/printmaker
WWW.marilynsouthey.com
Morley Speed
Since I was young I drew and painted intermittently, but in the last few years I have been able to devote time for sustained practice and experimentation with watercolour. Inspiration comes from various sources: trying to recreate works by famous artists, even though they may be in a different medium (such as Japanese woodblock); photos taken from places that I have appreciated; sometimes simply a photo in a newspaper; the constant challenge of representing flowers in still lives and, finally, portraits of people whom, for various reasons, I find intriguing.
Peter Hassell
I have painted and drawn all of my life, studying at Winchester and Sheffield and qualifying with a BA in Fine Art (painting) in 1979. My work is primarily representational. Although I sometimes paint in acrylics and oils, much of my output is in the medium of watercolour and gouache.
I have a website at www.peterhassell.com and If you are interested in buying my work there is a contact facility there.
Ruijun Hu
I am a London based British-Chinese artist and have lived and worked in London since 1991. I am a Vice President of the UK Chinese Artist Association and the London (UK) Representative of the International Watercolour Society (IWS).
I work predominantly with watercolour but also with oils.
In 2008, I was selected as one of the core artists commissioned to recreate the lost Armada Tapestries by the House of Lords. This series of six large oil painting are now permanently displayed in the Princes Chamber, House of Lords, in the Palace of Westminster. For more information about this project please go to https://armada.parliament.uk/index.html
My watercolour works were exhibited at the Fabiano International Watercolour Biennale in Italy in 2022 and the IWS International Watercolour festival in Cordoba arte21, Spain, in 2023. In May 2023, I was invited as a guest artist for Peruvian artists IWS Titicaca Puno Watercolour Painting Exhibition in Latin America House, London. In August 2023 I attended the 1st Qingdao International Watercolour Festival, Qingdao, China.
Sue Lees
I have been painting in watercolours for 27 years, and continue to be fascinated by the medium. Plein air painting is a huge challenge and so exciting, I try to do as much of it as possible, both with the full pure watercolour kit and sketchbooks with various inkpens, washes, crayons, etc.
I am also a member of the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists, and the Islington Art Society, and have an Instagram account under the name of Suesymslees.
Vivian Manthel-French
A New Zealander who spent many years living in Highgate London. She has now returned to her home town, Wellington, but visits the UK every year, and has continued her ties with the Highgate Watercolour Group.
She is an Artist Member and served on the council of The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, and is an exhibitor and past president of Watercolour NZ.
She has had a retrospective exhibition of her watercolour portraits in The NZ Portrait Gallery.
She paints a variety of subjects in watercolour and mixed media including landscapes from both countries and has solo exhibitions in NZ and the UK. The Commonwealth institute in London selected her for a solo exhibition, which resulted in an invited exhibition at Ballance House, Belfast, Ireland. She has been selected for the Royal Watercolour Society Open Exhibition.