Pamela Kay RWS, RBA, NEAC (British, b.1939) Flowers in the Window Still Life Oil on Canvas, signed, artist’s label verso, mounted in its original parcel-gilt frame.

A kaleidoscope of colour and form from the sure hand of a leading still life artist.

MEASUREMENTS:
Frame H: 28.5ins (72.5cm) W: 24.5ins (62.5cm)
Sight (visible painting) H: 21.5ins (55cm) W: 17.5ins (44.5cm)

CONDITION:
Painting: In excellent original condition. No restoration.
Frame: A few minor scuffs. Nothing detracting.

BIOGRAPHY:
Pamela Kay is one of Britain’s foremost painters of flowers and still lifes, who began her career as a successful freelance textiles designer, winning the Cotton Board Travelling Scholarship in recognition of her works. She gained her Fine Art degree from the Canterbury College of Art, and her Postgraduate, with her secondary craft in Textiles, from the Royal College of Art.

Kay’s textile designs were appointed by celebrated companies such as Tibor Reich, David Whitehead, Libertys and John Lewis. By John Lewis, Pamela Kay was offered the position of Head of Design and Production, which she declined in order to concentrate full time on her career as a painter, which she began in 1983. In that same year, Kay was awarded as an Associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours (ARWS), and went on to become a full Member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours (RWS) in 1986. The year prior, in 1985, Pamela Kay also became a Member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) and a Member of the New English Art Club (NEAC).

Pamela Kay credits as her most influential teacher the Royal Academician and portrait painter John Ward (CBE; RA, NEAC), by whom she was mentored early on, and for whom she also modelled, citing both his draughtsmanship and work ethic.

Drawing inspiration from 17th &18th century Dutch, Spanish and French Masters of still lifes, she cites as artistic influences: Adriaen Coorte, Luis Egidio Meléndez, Juan Sanchéz Cotón; and, perhaps her greatest influence, Jean Baptiste Chardin.
Kay’s own works exude the stillness, the calm, and the sense of the eternal which she so admires in these others, as well as the pure draughtsman-like quality she saw in her own mentor. She portrays her subject with the eye of a plantswoman, with a light dexterity, creating - as she herself describes Art - magic with a blank canvas; and enchants us with a real sense of colour, form, composition, contrast, texture and freshness.

Pamela Kay has travelled extensively during her working life, painting in places such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, North Africa, Egypt, Turkey, and the Mediterranean – Greece, Spain and Italy – and the Baltic countries, including Russia. As such, her paintings are privately collected across the world, have been exhibited widely in Britain over her long career, and her work has been shown regularly at the prestigious and highly selective Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibitions since 1959.

(For anyone wishing to examine Kay’s works and methods further, the following books have been published: ‘The Art of Pamela Kay’ by Michael Spender, and ‘Gouache – A Personal View’ by Pamela Kay, herself. There is also a DVD produced by APV films, titled ‘Aspects of Flower Painting in Oils.’ showing Pamela Kay at work, and which can be viewed online.)