“Sally is a fabulous figurative artist. There is an absolute containment of the person in her work…a quiet loneliness in all her paintings” Tai-Shan Schierenberg, award-winning British portrait painter

Sally Ward is a professional artist specialising in portraits and the figure. Her work has been exhibited by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries in London a number of times over recent years. She was a finalist on Sky Portrait Artist of the Year, Series 7 2020, in which she painted model and presenter Melanie Sykes; Booker Prize winner, Bernardine Evaristo, and: actor, comedian, and political activist, Eddie Izzard. She has exhibited with the Society of Women Artists at the Mall Galleries numerous times and last year won the Cass Art Award at the Society’s annual exhibition, which was presented to her by patron HRH Princess Michael of Kent. In addition, in 2023 her work was shortlisted for the prestigious Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize and a further painting was exhibited at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ annual exhibition. Sally also writes for national arts magazine, The Artist. In 2024 she has exhibited again with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and The Society of Women Artists, and will be exhibiting at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in November and December.

Sally studied Music at Cambridge University, staying on to undertake an M.Phil. in Musicology after her degree. As an artist, she is self-taught. While in demand for private commissions, she has also developed a body of her own work focusing on portraits of close family, friends and herself. She enjoys the emotional intimacy of these works; her aim being to create a sensitive and honest portrayal of her subject, focusing on natural expression and her sitter’s interior world. Sally often uses a limited palette and strong light sources to convey the solidity, form and presence of her sitter. Sally works mainly in oils and charcoal.

A curated set of Sally’s art can be viewed in the Catalogue of Works.

Read more about Sally in Press articles and interviews.

A list of exhibitions and commissions is available in Sally’s CV.