Penelope Milner (b. 1961)

               Penelope Milner studied Fine Art at Aberystwyth University of Wales and initially worked co-ordinating art exhibitions in her native Bedfordshire. She returned to painting full-time in 1984 and spent the next few years living in London and taking painting trips to southern Italy. Clearly very talented, she was awarded the Windsor and Newton Young artist award in 1985. She moved to the Lot Valley in France in 1988, where she still resides, in order to be surrounded by nature which inspires her.

Milner’s initial passion was for portraiture, working to commission in Britain, France and America. Her interests have since broadened and she now also enjoys working in situ on landscape and village scenes. Her strong skills in drawing and portraiture have laid a foundation for her to develop as an artist who is particularly masterful in pastels. She creates chromatically rich portraits, still-lifes and figure studies with a painterly, textured style which she employs to great effect in the recreation of atmospheric lighting.

Throughout her time in France Milner regularly returned to Britainto exhibit, showing principally at the Royal Academy and with the British Pastel Society. She won their young artist award in 2003 and exhibits in private galleries throughout Britain and France. She was elected a member of the French Pastel Society, who subsequently awarded her with the title of “Maitre Pastelliste” in 2009. She was an “invitée d'honneur” at the International Salon “Pastel en Bretagne” in 2013 and at the “Le Salon de Realism” in 2015. She was also awarded first prize at the International Pastel Salon in Giverny, France, in 2017. Her work has featured in numerous magazines and journals. She is also a dedicated teacher and has taught life drawing in Paris and Limoges for the French Pastel society since 2008, and runs courses from her studio in the Lot Valley.