Artist
Jessica Jane Charleston
Jessica is a British artist whose work is inspired by children's books and fairytales, perhaps a result of growing up with a poet for a father, who encouraged her love of art from an early age.
It was the discovery of printmaking later on in her career that led her back to drawing, and reinvigorated her love for it. She "found her wings" during her post-graduate course at The Royal Drawing School in 2017. Here she met other artists "whose practice was as much a part of their days as eating a sandwich, drinking a cup of tea, sitting down - art went hand-in-hand with life. This made sense to me." In 2020 she was awarded the young artist award by The Royal Watercolour Society and now teaches on the public programme at The Royal Drawing School. She lives in Crystal Palace where she draws, prints and makes books when she's not running around after her toddler.
"My drawings tell me about me, like a fortune teller, I go to them to find out how I'm feeling, or what I want. They are a place to dream and to play. I love to paint with gouache on paper, the way different papers change colours and mood." — Jessica Jane Charleston
Shop by Collection
November Drop 2023
“A trio of drawings. I love the simplicity of monochrome. I am able to get to the heart of the drawing immediately when working with one colour. There is no plan or preliminary sketch, the drawing just arrives, and tells me what it is about afterwards. This collection feels like the same conversation, at different times of day, in different landscapes.” - Jessica Jane Charleston, New Landscapes
September Drop 2023
"These paintings were inspired by a recent Tarot reading. (I don't know much about Tarot but) I love how it can confirm something you already know or offer a philosophical suggestion to your thinking or conversation. In Tarot, you are dealt three cards: your past, your present, your future. This set of paintings refers to my three cards, letting my imagination take hold, and making them my own." - Jessica Jane Charleston, Tarot
Feb Drop 2023
"In this collection I've been thinking about relationships, with friends, with myself, thinking about the things I reveal and hide. How someone close to me, like my son, becomes part of me, and how at times I take a part of myself, sit down, and have a conversation with it. The artworks are all made using gouache and painted on conservation board." - Jessica Jane Charleston
The Artist Open Call Collection
'The abstract figures and the way they interact with the colour strokes feel very female. I feel Jessica expresses womanhood through her figures and they feel somehow comforting to me' — Claudia del Olmo Russo, Founder of Casa Balandra
