Vanessa Newell

Vanessa was born on the island and has always had a deep love of the sea and sailing on it. She studied pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, acquiring a BA Hons in Ceramics and an MA in Industrial Ceramics.

Working as designer for Lennox China in America for several years before returning to London to work as a designer for David Queensberry at Queensberry Hunt Design Consultants, Vanessa worked with clients such as Wedgwood, Habitat, M&S, Thomas Goodes and Jane Churchill. 

Vanessa has always painted and she particularly loves to paint the sea and fish bait balls, using different types of media.

Her latest work includes paintings inspired by the sea and surfing. She has recently been creating paintings with epoxy resin mixed with coloured pigments, including silver and mica. It allows her to work quickly and spontaneously, whilst pouring the resin.

Vanessa tries to capture the movement of the sea, the excitement of surfing, the turbulent or gentle lapping of waves, the jewell like colours of the sea below and the patterns of the shifting reefs. She is greatly inspired by the fragility of the oceans and the need to protect them.