Tessa Spencer Pryse, RBA is a British Impressionist artist based in Wivenhoe, Essex. her work will be showing at the gallery during October.

About the Artist

The daughter of Gerald Spencer Pryse , a noted Welsh lithographer, Tessa Spencer Pryse had an unusual childhood, attending schools in France, rural Wales and Switzerland. She gained a scholarship to Byam Shaw Art School aged 17, where she met her future husband and father of her two children, Ewan Cameron.

Based for a time in Scotland, her painting was influenced by the strong light and the Scottish Colourists. She moved to Wivenhoe in 1991. She has had many solo exhibitions here and in London, regularly showing work at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists and at the New English Art Club.

Tessa specialises in oil and watercolour, and her preferred surface is fine oil-primed canvas. The artist’s work is notable for its use of light and landscapes.

Tessa Spencer Pryse

She has commented:

“Light and delight; those two words with a common root are my inspiration. I paint what I see and search for what I feel to be the essence of a scene in landscape, figure or interior.”

Tessa has received a number of accolades. Most notably she has won the Oppenheim Award, the Davis Slade Award, and in 2006 was presented the Daler Rowney Award for Best Oil Painting, RBA. Additionally, she is a Life Member of the Royal Society of British Artists.