Christine Connelly

Christine Connelly is a figurative artist. Raised in a large Irish family with eleven siblings meant there were always plenty of people to draw.

After training as an art teacher at Leicester University, UK, she taught in England and then in Madrid, all the while drawing and painting, mostly portrait commissions.

Alongside a career in PR in Johannesburg and London, she continued to develop her drawing and painting techniques and to experiment with different media: oil, ink, acrylic, pastel and water colour.

Then came the move to Paris where she still lives and works. In 2001 Connelly decided to concentrate solely on her art. She studied figurative painting in the Ateliers of the City of Paris for many years under the guidance of Antoine Petel and Gonzalo Belmonte.

Connelly takes a break from her studio to attend life drawing sessions at the Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse. She is a firm believer that drawing is the basis of all figurative art.

Exhibitions include solo and group shows in Paris, London and Barcelona. She has participated in Art Fairs in Paris notably Le Salon d'Automne Centenary, and at the Carrousel du Louvre.

She won the gold medal for her painting "Prose" at the Salon des Artistes du 15ème arrondissement, Paris in 2002 and the Jury's Special Award five years later. Connelly is represented at Saatchiart and was selected for their 2014 special collection featuring artists in France. In 2018 she won the Montmartre Drawing Marathon.

In 2020 she was invited to join the French collective Au Périgée des Arts  with whom she has exhibited in successive shows in June 2021,February 2022 (Les voix de la Terre).

Her work is included in private art collections in Europe, US and Australia.