Sue Eves SOA – portfolio

Contact the artist

https://www.southoxfordarts.uk

Exhibition information

For this May 2026 Artweeks theme, I focussed on visual and sound reflections in stories. In the familiar Greek myth, Narcissus falls in love with his own reflection in the water. Echo, the nymph, falls in love with him. I fell in love with Echo.

While sketching Narcissus Poeticus flowers along Addison walk in Magdalen College, I found the perfect seat for Echo to call across the river to Narcissus. For the portrait of Echo, I set up my camera on a timer for a selfie, ran to the throne-shaped tree stump and gazed across the River Cherwell…

Portrait of Echo

Echo takes root as she calls to Narcissus, echoing his words. The last Narcissus Poeticus at her feet mirrors her call. Snake’s head fritillaries bow their heads. Her skin turns to bark until all that is left is her echo.

Portrait of Iynx 

Iynx is the daughter of the nymphs Echo and Pan. The goddess, Hera transforms Iynx into a bird to punish her for bewitching her husband Zeus. The bird is said to bewitch lovers when it twists its neck in a snake-like spell.

First Daffodil

Celebrating the signs of Spring. I spotted the first daffodil at the beginning of March in South Park, Oxford. The blue daffodil nods its reflection.

I Am a Swan

My swan is a female, shunned for being different, illustrating the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, The Ugly Duckling. 

Artist information

Sue Eves, painter and storyteller, lives and works in Oxford. She paints on the old windows that people  have rejected in their rush to the double-glazed future. She studied Drama and Visual arts at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she developed her love for creating stories. 

Her paintings focus on epiphanies gleaned from nature; folk stories and fairytales, from cross-cultural story collections and ancient oral story traditions with the added twist of her contemporary interpretations. 

She started painting on windows back in Covid days, when she was furloughed from The Story Museum, Oxford. People passing by on their walks regularly stopped to view her paintings on the windows of her home. Condensation on the windows at night would wash away the gouache. Over 4 months, she completed and wiped away 177 images. She played with light and reflections and developed techniques to mimic stained-glass effects, using transparent paint for her permanent window art and gouache for her ephemeral work. Now her window paintings are portable and purchased from art shows. Sue continues to paint larger scale scenes for her ephemeral works on the South Oxford Community Centre windows to celebrate the launch of the South Oxford Art Group exhibitions twice a year. 

 

Sue Eves is a member of South Oxford Arts. Since 2022, she has exhibited her work during Oxfordshire Artweeks. She was one of the featured artists in the Oxford Times 2026 & 2025 and her work was featured in the Ox Magazine, 2024

“I have seen myself in my windows. I am the swan, once shunned for being different now taking to the skies.

I have a shed full of discarded windows with their own stories, waiting to be part of a new story.

I start with a pencil sketch, then paint with a brush and a palette knife, pouring, mixing, splattering and stippling glass paint to create sheer transparency and intense colour – always observing nature, the seasons and the changing natural light.

I paint familiar stories, retelling from a feminist perspective. My women may be silenced but they can still bewitch. Lizzie, Fair Rosamund, Echo, La Gatta…they escape with wit, determination, rage and beauty – a storm personified. No longer trapped on paper or sitting in the background, they thrive in the paintings in their windows.”