About the artist

Libby Dillon studied Fine Art Painting at Loughborough University School of Art and Design graduating in 2001. She then went onto to study a PGCE in Art and Design at the Institute of Education. Raised in London, Libby now lives and works in Somerset, specialising in figurative painting in oils. Libby has had paintings exhibited at the RBSA, paintings pre-selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the BP portrait award, work longlisted for the Jackson’s Painting Prize and shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2025. Libby has recently had a series of solo shows in Bath and is artist in residence at Berdoulat, Bath.  

In her current body of work ‘Umbra’, Libby focuses on large-scale still life draping forms exploring the interplay and transience of shadow and light. Luminous surfaces and refined gradations of tone within cropped compositions create immersive visual experiences for the viewer. The painting evokes a sense of movement and shifting shapes – changing from a twisting figure to rising smoke. 

In her ‘Acts of Expression’ body of work, Libby explores themes of self-representation and expression where closely cropped compositions create focus on pose and gesture. The gestural brushwork and vivid shifts of colour and tone are used to create interactions between the figure and the space. In these works there is a celebration of the joy of dressing up and using the drama of an intense colour palette along with light and shadow to describe the empowering and persistent nature of wanting and allowing yourself to be seen.