TADCASTER artist Susan Bower’s new series of gentle, witty portrayals of family life go on show at Kentmere House Gallery, York, from Thursday.

“Susan’s paintings have a mesmerising effect on people, which may explain the ever-growing interest in her work,” says Ann Petherick, who has shown Susan’s work at her Scarcroft Hill home since 2005.

“Maybe it is her degree in psychology which enables her to know how to tug at the heart strings with her family scenes, or puncture the arrogance of the expert in a work like A Man Of Knowledge.”

Susan’s delightfully wry humour comes across in all her observations of familiar domestic situations, inspired by her own family of four grown-up children, two grandchildren and several dogs and a cat, many of whom feature in her paintings. “Ignored by the public galleries in her native Yorkshire, but feted by galleries in the South, Susan finds that most of her work sells in London, the Cotswolds or the south west, and Kentmere House is one of very few outlets for her work in the north,” says Ann.

“She has become one of our most eagerly collected artists and a new collection of her work is always eagerly anticipated.”

Susan is an elected member of two of the most prestigious national societies; the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of British Artists, and she shows regularly with both in London, as well as at the New English Art Club at the Mall Galleries. All the paintings in her Families & Other Animals show are in oil and are on sale at prices ranging from £1,800 to £2,000.

Kentmere House Gallery is open every Thursday from 6pm to 9pm; open weekends on March 24 and 25, March 31 and April 1 and April 7 and 8, 11am to 5pm; and at any other time by appointment on 01904 656507.