145. Abby Hope Skinner - The Coffee House

2026
Oil on aluminium panel
17.8 x 12.7 cm
Signed on Verso

Abby Hope Skinner is a painter working primarily in oil on panel, creating narrative works that explore people, psychology, and contemporary life.

Her paintings invite viewers into layered visual worlds that reward slow looking, where meanings gradually unfold and symbolic details emerge like hidden “easter eggs.” Working across a range of scales, Skinner approaches her miniature paintings as intimate, jewel-like objects designed to be closely observed and deciphered.

Rooted in historical painting traditions, her practice brings classical techniques into a contemporary context, resulting in works that feel both timeless and psychologically immediate. Through carefully constructed compositions and heightened attention to detail, Skinner examines human behaviour, emotion, and the subtle complexities of contemporary experience.

She completed a BA (Hons) in Illustration at Arts University Bournemouth, UK (2013–2016), following a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at the same institution (2012–2013).

Selected exhibitions include the International Women’s Day Exhibition at The Bomb Factory, London (2025); the Art on a Postcard Winter Auction at Soho Revue, London (2022); the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries, London (2021); the Christmas Group Show at Darren Baker Gallery, London (2014); and the Summer Show at Arts University Bournemouth (2013).

Her awards and shortlistings include the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (2024 & 2026); the Royal Academy of Dance Prize (2022); a Highly Commended award from the De Laszlo Foundation at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition (2021); shortlistings for the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (2015 & 2019); and a shortlist for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition (2015). In 2014, she was selected as Lord Melvyn Bragg’s winner of the London Heat of Portrait Artist of the Year. She was also awarded Best in Show at Arts University Bournemouth in 2013.

Her work is held in the private collection of Melvyn Bragg, London, UK.