Mary Ratcliffe
By Shona Chew
© Shona Chew
Shona Chew is a largely self-taught artist who has attended painting and drawing classes as a mature student. Her work has been seen in exhibitions including those of the Society of Women Artists, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Essex Open Exhibition, having won best in show in 2016. She was previously included in the BP Portrait Award in 2018.
The portrait is of textile artist and designer, Mary Ratcliffe, whom Chew met at a Textile Fair where she gave a talk on her work. Chew asked if she would sit for a portrait with some of her textile creations. Chew says: ‘I was keen to paint the vibrant mix of colours, shapes and lines created by the figure in the foreground and the more vertical patterns in the background.’
