Gill Watkiss

Gill Watkiss has been a leading figure in the West Cornwall art scene for several decades. Her oil and mixed media paintings show an assortment of apparently fictitious people in a variety of regional settings that feature distinctive landmark buildings, well known points in the landscape or more general rural and semi-urban settings. The figures in Gill’s paintings are seen as being humourous characters to some viewers though others see a more macabre and haunting side.

Either way, Gill Watkiss’ paintings are avidly collected within Cornwall, where she has lived for many years after moving down from the Home Counties with her author, painter and photographer husband Reg. They are also collected by admirers all over the British Isles, Europe, America and Australasia. To many Cornish ex-patriots, Gill’s paintings are poignant reminders of “home” while to non Cornish collectors, overseas, they represent a distinctive culture and geography that is quite absent from their countries.