Penny Newman

Penny returned to painting around thirty years ago and, since then, has continued to develop her practice through a wide range of day, weekend and short courses in Cambridge, East Anglia and the Peak District. Along the way, she has explored many different approaches to drawing, watercolour, pen and wash, watercolour pencils and acrylics.

A keen walker, Penny enjoys spending time outdoors with a sketchbook and works “en plein air,” creating paintings shaped by the changing weather, atmosphere and character of the day. She enjoys creating both small, immediate sketches and larger outdoor paintings that capture a sense of place and moment.

Penny is especially drawn to open landscapes, trees, plants, flowers and buildings within the landscape. Alongside her outdoor work, she also enjoys painting at home at a slower, more reflective pace, producing both realistic and more abstract landscape and floral pieces inspired by memory, experiences and history.

Her work has been exhibited with the SEAW at The Maltings, The Old Goods Shed, Babylon Gallery and Lavenham Guildhall.

In 2022, Penny won the Tindalls Art Prize for impressive watercolour fluidity for her painting Evening Comes, and in 2026 she received the RI Book Award for East Hills, Wells.

Penny has been a member of the Cambridge Drawing Society since 2022 and regularly exhibits at The Pitt Building and The Leys School. Her painting Winter Crunch was joint winner of the public vote for favourite piece in 2023.

She is also a member of the Ely Art Society and exhibits with them at Babylon Gallery and The Hayward Theatre.

Earlier in her career, Penny won The Museum of the Broads Watercolour Challenge in both 2012 and 2013.

More of Penny’s art work can be found on her Instagram account – pennydnewman