Janet Kenyon is a multi-award winning watercolour artist who as gained an enviable reputation for her innovative use of watercolour and is now recognised as one of the UK’s leading watercolour artists.

Over the course of her career, Janet has received an impressive number of accolades, including winner of the Sunday Times/Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize twice, first in 2009 for her painting titled: Northern lights, Blackpool and in 2016 for her painting titled: Gridlock (Manhattan) The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition is the largest and most prestigious showcase of contemporary watercolour painting in the UK.

Born and brought up in Bolton, Lancashire in 1959. In 1975 she studied for two years at Bolton College of Art & Design. In 1977 she moved away from Bolton to study at Leeds Polytechnic and later gained a B.A. Hons. in Graphic Design. It was here she began to experiment in watercolour and ever since as continued to push the boundaries of this very difficult medium.

For Janet it’s the capturing of natural & artificial light, in her paintings, and the way it interacts with the landscape, alongside the unexpected perspective and sense of space, that ignites her imagination.

Janet’s highly individual and distinctive landscapes have been exhibited in many leading galleries including the Mall Galleries, London, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh and The Lowry Gallery, Salford and can also be found in private collections in the UK and abroad.

Awards

1995 1st prize winner – Greater Manchester Arts Award
1997 1st prize winner – Northern Region Laing Watercolour competition, Manchester
2000 1st prize winner – Laing Watercolour Landscape competition Critics prize, London
2009 1st prize winner – Smith & Williamson, Cityscape Prize in the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour competition
2009 1st prize winner – Kent Valley Award in the Lake Artists Society Competition
2009, 2012 & 2013 prize winner in the Cumbrian Open Competition
2010 2nd prize winner – St Cuthbert’s Mill Award in the Royal Watercolour Society Open Competition
2010 1st prize winner – Cumbria Life, Lake Artists Society prize
2011 1st prize winner – Cumbrian Open Competition
2011 1st prize winner – RWS Bankside Gallery/Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Purchase prize
2014 1st prize winner – Cumbrian Open Competition
2016 winner of the Sunday Times/Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize