Katie Jones

Expert tutor

Most of us came across Katie during her incredible journey on PAOTY 2025 where her speed and precision of likeness, skin tone, and the many planes and facets of a sitter’s face and head and posture were honestly quite miraculous in her rendering. It was obvious she would reach the final and many of us thought her deserving to win though finalist is of course fabulous too.

Katie’s portrait practice is about the search and articulation of identity, hidden narrative, and how we see and wish to be seen by others. Katie examines her own physicality, playing with angles and perspectives. A head tilt to the left or right, each shift in position is a search for meaning. Objects and accessories are sometimes present in the work to contextualise the self within society. In Katie’s painting ‘Self Portrait with a Bow’ she interrogates the idea of adornment and beauty. These viewpoints introduce narratives not always of her own choosing, continuously playing with how she sees herself as a woman, a mother and an artist.

Katie has exhibited widely in the Uk including the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, The University of Hull, and the Wells Contemporary as well as showing work as the Society of British Artists, The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and the Royal West of England Academy.

When she is not working on commissions or developing her own studio practice, Katie spends time as a community arts tutor delivering art for mental wellbeing courses for a charity in Wells. She also runs workshops focusing mainly on portraiture and nature from her studio on the Mendip Hills.