Jonathan Cowell spent 2025 in Rookery Gardens at Streatham Common, producing paintings for every month of the year. Working both outdoors and in the studio, he painted in oil on canvas and board in response to the changing light and nature of the seasons, alongside later, studio-based works developed from his many drawings.

“These studio paintings were like meditations on the experience of being in the place, I spent so much time there over the course of the year.” - Jonathan Cowell.

Jonathan attended Stockport College of Art, followed by the Byam Shaw School of Painting, before embarking on a career teaching art in a variety of educational establishments.

He has exhibited widely throughout London, winning two awards at the Dulwich Picture Gallery: the Director’s Choice prize in the Paul Nash competition (2010) for his painting Dulwich Allotments and the Friends 70 competition (2024) for his painting Lunchbreak.

“I have always managed to keep painting and maintaining the threads of my artistic practice throughout my life, but it is perhaps now in my seventh decade that I feel that I’ve really found myself as a painter. I’ve just relaxed into it more, and it feels amazing. It’s never too late, really.” - Jonathan Cowell.

📸 Instagram: @cowelljonathanfoster