HOME - Autumn and Winter 2025
Major update and overhaul to my clinky,clunky website coming soon, but hope you'll still enjoy looking at my pretty pictures!!!
Workshops, Works on Show, Pictures and Pantomime and much more - details below!
From the Top of St George's Church, Stamford © Karen Neale, watercolour artist Stamford/London
I hope this finds you well as we orbit into autumn in continuing cosmic chaos! 2025 is a tough one – enough said. Working as an artist keeps me grounded and going, and it was good to hear again on the news last week that not only creating art, but seeing art in person (rather than just on screen) is positive for mental health and general well-being.
St.Paul's Street, Stamford © Karen Neale, watercolour artist Stamford and London
So if you are in or around Stamford, I would like to invite you to Artist’s Adventures All Around, an exhibition of some new work from my sketchbooks this year in Stamford and beyond at the brilliant Blonde Beet Cafe from 2nd December 2025 - 31st January 2026. The pictures above and below will be there in the form of canvases, prints and cards. Please contact me if you would like to attend The Preview on 2nd December – it’s a smallish space and I need to know how much wine and nibbles to order! Otherwise enjoy a cuppa and cake or more in this lovely setting surrounded by awesome art throughout December and January! If you can’t make it to Stamford, have a look in the galleries, museums, creative spaces where you are and hopefully feel inspired and uplifted!
Brilliant Broad Street Market, Stamford © Karen Neale, watercolour artist Stamford/London
A meander through a market is also good to do and I will also have my 'Open Air Gallery' aka stall at the Christmas Market on Sunday 30th November as well as every Friday from now until Christmas on the wonderful weekly Market ( where you can usually find me located on Ironmonger Street just off brilliant Broad Street). I'll have prints and cards of my new scenes to accompany the rest of my work.
London Sports Festival Opening at the Guildhall in London in May! © Karen Neale, watercolour artist Stamford/London
In London, it has been a joy to continue as ‘artist in residence’ at 55 Broadway, working with the Charity Integrity International Trust (IIT) and Blue Orchid Hospitality. Linking with Central London Alliance (CLA) it was a jumping joy to sketch the launch of the London Sports Festival at the Guildhall Yard in May -brilliant buildings, awesome art, and stellar sport! This fabulous Free festival ran throughout the summer, so look out for this next year in various London locations for more mindful motivation!
Sketchers Sketches! © Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
As mentioned, creating art is mindfully medicinal. Whether you are a doubting doodler, stickman scribbler or a drawing diva you are very welcome to come and enjoy some soul soothing sketching at my sketching workshops which continue in Stamford on Mondays at Stamford Arts Centre, and every other Wednesday at the magical Mindspace Hub.
Here are some of the delightful and diverse sketches from a recent session at the new Hub on Red Lion Street. See below under ‘Events and Workshops’ for further details on my workshops.
Part of the Panto scenery...... © Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
Staying in the Stamford Arts Centre as we head to the silly season, it’s time to put on the panto and see ‘Alice in Wonderland’ venturing through this woodland to other scenery settings I’ve had the pleasure to do. Whatever happens it will be wonderous in Wonderland. Tickets are out now and selling fast so get there before the Queen of Hearts does!
Sketching the moment from the top of the Rockefeller Centre, New York! © Karen Neale, watercolour artist Stamford/London
And coming out of the rabbit hole, just briefly, I was fortunate enough to find a fabulous few days in New York and this skyline surfing sketch is also available as a print and canvas. Enough said! As ever, and wherever you are in the World ‘Let there be love light and laughter all over this Land’ – we all need that! So, please do contact me if you'd like to talk about a commission or illustration project, purchase any of my work, want more information about any of the above, or just want to say hello, it's always good to hear from you!
Continue below for more information on my forthcoming events and about 'me and my work'. You can also see what I'm up to on Facebook.
© Karen Neale, watercolour artist Stamford and London
EVENTS Winter 2025
• Stamford Christmas Market – Sunday 30th November 2025 – Find me there and also every Friday on the weekly Stamford Market (usually on Ironmonger Street).
• Stamford All Around Exhibition at the Blonde Beet - 2nd December 2025 - 31st January 2026. Preview on 2nd December - contact me for further information.
• Stamford Sketching Workshops - contact me to join Monday morning sessions (10–12.30) - based at the Stamford Arts Centre . Cost is £15 per session - tea and biscuits included! I confirm sessions on the Friday before each session.
• Mindspace sketching sessions based at the Mindspace Hub on Red Lion Street. from 10am – 11.30am on alternate Wednesdays. Mindspace encourages the improvement of mental health & well-being for all in and around Stamford. Book here to join sessions. They are FREE, though a donation is always very welcome!
Angel detail, Peterborough Cathedral
© Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
View from Platform 1 of Blackfriars Station, London, June 2019
© Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
A wonderful commission from 2019 for Rules - the oldest restaurant in London, see Rules Restaurant’s new menu below.
Menu Illustration for Rules Restaurant, London, July 2019
© Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
View from the Top of Millbank Tower, London
© Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
There's more about 'me and my work' below and on the other pages, and from other perspectives, here are a couple of press articles from Wanderlust Travel Magazine, Frost magazine and The Culture Trip - though there is a slight error in that I never had time to see Downtown Abbey or Doctor Who - just Danger Mouse with my son!
Her late Majesty The Queen was the patron of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, now Churchill Fellowship. Being awarded a Fellowship not only enabled me to undertake a journey of a lifetime, it also opened so many doors to wonderful opportunities in my subsequent work. Churchill Fellowship applications open annually around September each year and categories are always changing, so if you are a British Citizen and passionate about your subject- it could be for you!
Reception at Buckingham Palace on March 18th 2015 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston's living legacy - the Churchill Fellowship
Karen Neale Art: 'Me and my Work'
That's me braving the winds racing across Waterloo Bridge. My passion is sketching and painting the world around me in my annotated sketchbook diaries. I stand ‘in situ’ and draw with an ordinary black biro as much as I can of what is going on around me in my book. Then, I add colour with my small field box of watercolours. The notes I make around the perimeter are observations I’ve made whilst I’ve been sketching. It is a great privilege and pleasure to simply spend time in a place and draw, and it is a wonderful way to get to know a place and its people.
San Gimignano,Italy
© Karen Neale, Watercolour Artist London
Avignon, France,
© Karen Neale, Watercolour Artist London
Havana,Cuba © Karen Neale, World heritage artist London
Closer to home I continued the World Heritage theme with a community project along Hadrian’s Wall. Then in London, I was privileged to sketch in and around the Palace of Westminster and was artist in residence at the Athenaeum Club in 2004. Rather auspiciously I was appointed ‘MCC Young Cricket Artist for 2005’, based at Lord’s Cricket Ground, and subsequently artist in residence at The Queen’s Club for the 2007 tennis season.
Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, © Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
please click on the image below to see a larger picture
The Old Highbury Ground, Arsenal, London © Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
please click on the image below to see a larger picture
In October 2006 my first London sketchbook diary was published by Methuen, entitled ‘London in Landscape’ with Winston Churchill’s daughter, Lady Soames generously writing the foreword. In 2009 ‘London in Landscape Volume II’ was launched with an exhibition of my paintings in the Barbican Centre, London. Both books are available through Methuen, Amazon, and me. Since 2010 I have resided in Stamford in Lovely Lincolnshire. In 2011, Walkers, Stamford’s local bookshop published my Stamford sketchbook. And now in 2015 A Fellow Traveller!
Broad Street Market from Browne's Hospital on Market Day, Stamford
© Karen Neale, watercolour artist London
These books have been a real labour of love for me as I’ve been out in all weathers, on tops of buildings, along the streets, in various wonderful institutions, sports grounds, churches and cathedrals, markets, museums and so on. It is an utterly uplifting experience to be able to just sit and draw in a place and become a part of that place for a few hours. If you would like to contact me for further information, please click here to e-mail or call me on
07710 406967
I hope you enjoy looking around the website!
Karen Neale Art
Watercolour Artist London and Stamford.
World Heritage Artist, London
