* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Joel Penkman was born in 1979 in New Zealand. After finishing her degree in Graphic Design at Canterbury University’s School of Fine Art, she moved to the UK where she has worked as a graphic designer and most recently a freelance designer and artist.
Joel explains her work by saying, “I love food, and I love to paint, so combining the two seemed like a good idea. My compositions are simple still-life studies with clean backgrounds to make easier for individuals to make a connection. Food triggers memories and emotion, I like that people can bring something of themselves to the artworks. My favourite medium is egg tempera. It is very time consuming as I make the gesso to prepare my boards and grind my own paint to mix, but the results are worth it. I hope my pictures will make people smile.”
A lot of Joel's work is in egg tempera. This is a time-consuming medium for which she grinds her own paint and craft gesso boards.
Some of Joel's influences are Wayne Thiebaud, Lisa Milroy, Edward Hopper and George Shaw.