All images and content © Jill Swarbrick-banks 2026
oils on linen Framed: 113 x 103 x 4cm "Ceunant" in Welsh. Slate mining has left vast chasms inside the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia). From the 19th century, miners used to blast out huge slabs of slate inside the mountains. All of the awesome fire and danger of that industry now abandoned to the underworld, stilled now to drips of water and echoes. Original oil has SOLD.
oils on linen 2019 103 x 113 x 4 cm framed A small bend in the road of a village near to the ancient town of Machynlleth. A massive 18th century waterwheel still attached to its crumbling building, which drips with fluorescent lichens and bleeding ores, orange and gold on grey stone. An adjacent waterfall thunders over huge boulders beside the structure. Original oil has SOLD
oils on linen 2019 103cm x 113cm This painting is framed. Travelling from Machynlleth to Aberdyfi the road twists and turns, clinging to the very edges of cliffs which reveal sudden breath-taking elevations beside the Dyfi. Eventually you emerge into a scrambled together stretched seaside village that blinks out over a sandbank strewn estuary and the searing white light of the Celtic Sea, full of small bobbing fishing boats and crying gulls. £1500
Oils on linen. 90cm x 100cm x 4cm This painting comes framed 2019. This work conveys fond memories and luminous light from my time as Artist in Residence to the magnificent Coventry Cathedral. When the sun shines through the stained glass, it fractures into shimmering kaleidoscope colours across the vast dark smooth floor, an elevating spiritual experience in itself. £1500
#1 In the chalk stream series inspired by the river Kennet at Marlborough. Oils on linen. 870mm x 980mm. 2024. Part of the river Kennet at Marlborough (chalk stream) series. 'Halcyon' was a mythical bird in Greek mythology and can also be attributed to a Kingfisher. The Kingfisher clad in its "razor blue" streaks at speed downstream leaving one in awe of its sudden appearance and fluorescent colours. Here is my lyrically abstracted interpretation of the bird zipping down a chalk stream. Although often glimpsed on the River Dyfi and River Kennet, I have also witnessed a pair of Kingfishers in mid winter over the sea rock pools at Aberystwyth. This painting has SOLD.
Oils on linen 103 x 113 x 4cm framed 2022. I felt compelled to register, in my own way, the eruption of mad violence upon this vast country and its proud folk. Amidst war and gunshot fracturing this land's every fibre, I have discovered its beauty and strength. A blue and gold flag morphs into a juice-green rhapsody which soars out above the guns and I suddenly hear the sound of a simple lyre, like a blackbird's early morning song. Original oil has SOLD
oils on linen Framed: 113 x 103 x 4cm 2022 A poem by Charles Causley. Causley a solitary man and lifelong resident of Launceston, Cornwall wrote this poem musing as an older man on his lot. After visiting his humble house "Cypress Well" one rainy dark winters afternoon. I sat on the floor beside his desk, typewriter, books, chair, and piano and I was overwhelmed by a sense of sadness but also the beauty in his eye as he dwelt on the passing of time. Original oil has SOLD
oils on linen 2019 103 x113 x 4 cm As flooding increases and the sheer uncertainty of living weighs heavy as an anchor on us all in Britain today - especially since Brexit - I felt compelled to convey my feelings of isolation, despair and inundation, while also maintaining the hope of sailing into calmer waters eventually. Life still thriving in the depths! Original oil has SOLD
Oils on linen. 113cm x 103cm x 4cm. This painting comes framed. 2019. The title Braich Goch can literally be translated as Red Arm. It is the name of an old slate mine seam/complex in mid and north Wales in the area of the picturesque little village of Corris Uchaf. It has left a beautiful devastation on the landscape. You feel at once inside and outside the mountains. They are now carpeted in rich green lichens and luminous turquoise slabs lying in the Welsh drizzle and moss, with the constant noise of thundering water somewhere... It concocts imagery of Tolkien's dwarf kingdom MORIA. Original oil painting, framed. Last one of the Welsh Slate Mine series. This painting has SOLD.
oils on linen 70cm x 70cm x 4cm (framed) 2019 In reality, a curious little hamlet in mid Wales nestling in the Dyfi Valley, where until very recently I lived and worked. Mallwyd translates as "The Grey Place". Here shown with the nearby River Dyfi roaring in terrifying spate, and Rhiannon, a wild spirit of Welsh mythology caught up in its violence and beauty. Original oil painting resides in the collection of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, England.
oils on linen. 500mm x 600 mm x 40mm. 2024/5 This painting, AVALON, like many of my oils, began with music, in this case Roxy Music's iconic song "Avalon". The song's ethereal qualities wash over and elevate me with every play. The painting quietly formed over many weeks to remarkably suggest the mythological Isle of Avalon. This painting has SOLD
Oils on linen. 500mm x 600mm. 2025 Comes framed, add 40mm. I walked up Roughtor with my dog Ruby in January 2022. It was bitterly cold, desolate but the sky was crystal clear blue. The Evening Star twinkled above us. Just perfect in such isolation. I dedicate this painting to my close friend, the painter Wayne Summers M.A. A rare beacon of a talent. This painting has SOLD.
All images and content © Jill Swarbrick-Banks 2026
Het is bekend dat ik gespecialiseerd ben in portretfotografie. Ik vind het erg leuk om met het onderwerp kennis te maken en hun eisen en wensen te bespreken. Het is een behoorlijk intieme kennismaking, aangezien een olieverfschilderij de persoonlijkheid en de geschiedenis van het onderwerp moet weerspiegelen, dus ik zal heel wat over je vragen en een heleboel foto's van je maken vanuit alle hoeken. Ik werk vanaf foto's, maar ik vind het leuk om een goede kennismaking met de oppas op te bouwen. Een portret is immers een blijvende herinnering aan jou! Geschilderd met olieverf op Italiaans linnen, zal het eeuwenlang meegaan... om de generaties onveranderd door te geven. Contacteer mij voor een vrijblijvende offerte? Portret afgebeeld: Tuinbouwer Lisa Cunningham - Allsop-oliën op linnen. 2018. Ongeveer 70 cm x 70 cm. Portret van een vriend van een tuinbouwer. De achtergrondbloemen zijn geabstraheerde blauwe hortensia's, Lisa's favoriete bloemen. In de privécollectie van de oppas.
Oils on linen 700 mm x 600 mm. 2024. Private commission. The renowned literary scholar & poet Professor Angela Leighton FBA. This commission was a delight from start to finish. My client has strong roots in Yorkshire and Italy (Naples and Sicily) and so immediately geology came to mind and most notably limestone pavement, so evocative to me of Yorkshire; ( a line in the poem 'A Limestone Pavement' written by Angela suggested the title of the portrait as well. The formidable volcanoes Vesuvius and Etna are of course major geological features to southern Italy ). My brief was to be as free as I liked and to abstract the portrait as far as I would dare! I also listened to the piece of music written by her late father, composer Kenneth Leighton: ' Drop, Drop, Slow Tears' and I was minded to depict Angela in an abstracted contemplative pose, perhaps in absorption of lacrimae rerum ( tears of things), the latin phrase that derives from Book I, line 462 of the Aeneid, by Roman poet Virgil (c. 29 - 19 BC). We are currently living in such flux, in turbulent and troubling times and this all just felt "right" as a title and to perhaps sum up the poet's lot to make sense of it all with eloquence and composure. I placed the central image of Angela - in a familiar to herself peaceful pose - within facetted limestone pavement cracking across the composition. The human form as part of the growth, deterioration and ultimate and inevitable renaissance of life within swirls analogous of volcanic activity. Angela's words have been very affecting and I have felt so enriched working on this commission with her.
Richard Thompson oils on canvas 2009 This is a detail from a painting which originally includes Simon Nicol, both of Fairport Convention. It was a project based around the 40th anniversary of FC's seminal album 'Liege & Lief' ( 1969). All original members of the band - sans the late great Sandy Denny of course - came together to reproduce the album live. I had the privilege to be able to take photographs as they rehearsed this set at the time. Available to order as bespoke print/s or card/s only from JSB and this site.
In opdracht van The Charles Causley Trust als onderdeel van hun festiviteiten in 2023. Het schilderij is afgebeeld in het stadhuis van Launceston tijdens een presentatie en discussie over Charles Causley. Olieverf op linnen, 2023, 900 mm x 100 mm (plus 40 mm met lijst).
All images and content © Jill Swarbrick-Banks 2026
All images and content © Jill Swarbrick-Banks 2026
Painted in 1992, Hydref was created in Groningen, the Netherlands that Autumn. A shaft of sunlight suddenly grew into a vibrant diagonal across the Burnt Sienna background and I managed to outline the shapes within the sunbeam before it disappeared a minute or so later. Hydref in welsh for the Autumn & October. I was fascinated by the Celts at the time and the isle of Eire.
Geschilderd "in nostalgie" in Groningen, Nederland na een heerlijke vakantie in midden Wales. Onderzoek naar de ingangen naar de Onderwereld of Annwn hield me geboeid toen dit schilderij tevoorschijn kwam. olieverf op doek Ongeveer 80 x 90 cm (?) 1994 Privécollectie in Wales
Naar een gelijknamig gedicht van WB Yeats. Ik las toen een dichtbundel van Yeats. De Ierse pub: "O'Ceallaigh's" in Groningen, gerund door Peter Kelly en Eva Spakman, was mijn kroeg en toevluchtsoord toen ik in de jaren 90 in Groningen woonde. De pub is nog steeds een uniek centrum van Ierse cultuur en warmte. Het is een favoriete plek voor Ierse patriotten en Britse expats zoals ik. Eva Spakman is een getalenteerde kunstenaar en vriendin. We studeerden samen beeldende kunstschilderkunst aan de Kunstacademie in Groningen.
olieverf op doek 1993 800mm x 900mm Dan y dŵr werd geïnspireerd door de verdrinking van het Welsh sprekende dorp Capel Celyn in Noord-Wales in de vroege jaren 60. Grappig genoeg woonde ik vele jaren later in de buurt... Het huidige Tryweryn Reservoir vind ik altijd een huiveringwekkende plek.
Vernoemd naar de Keltische godin die geassocieerd wordt met een cultus van het paard. Ik nam de krijtheuvelfiguur van het Witte Paard van Uffington in Zuid-Engeland als motief. De blauwtinten zijn een toespeling op de andere wereld. Olieverf op doek Ongeveer 50 x 70 cm Ongeveer: 2000. Helaas VERLOREN tijdens het transport en verblijfplaats onbekend!
