About Me
I’m Ione Harrison, a contemporary landscape artist and watercolour tutor based in North Yorkshire. My work is inspired by wild landscapes and explores atmosphere, emotion, and a strong sense of place through expressive watercolour.
Teaching & Studio Practice
Alongside my painting practice, I run watercolour workshops and classes, welcoming both beginners and experienced painters. My teaching focuses on freedom, confidence, and developing a personal, expressive approach to watercolour.
Biography
Working from her studio in Hovingham, North Yorkshire, Ione Harrison creates vibrant, atmospheric watercolour paintings inspired by landscape and the natural world. Her work explores texture, movement, and emotion through expressive mark-making and experimental techniques, including wax resist and the use of textiles and plant materials.
Ione studied at Oxford Brookes University, the University of Bath, and Bath Spa University. Although she pursued a professional career in teaching, creativity has always remained central to her life and practice. Years of international teaching and travel — including time in France, the Middle East, Turkey, and Nepal — deepened her sensitivity to landscape and strengthened her relationship with colour, particularly the heat-soaked palettes of Asia and the Middle East.
Recently, Ione returned to her home county of North Yorkshire, where she feels newly rooted and inspired by expansive, ever-changing northern landscapes.
She has exhibited widely and has been represented by galleries in Helmsley, Leeds, Malton and York.
Artist Statement
Working primarily in watercolour and ink, my practice is inspired by the natural world and the ever-changing light and mood of moor, hill, woodland, and coastline. My paintings seek to capture atmosphere and emotional resonance rather than literal representation.
With a semi-abstract, expressionistic approach, I work largely with colours in a minor key, accented by moments of inky vibrancy. Through shape, pattern, and texture, I aim to reveal a deeper, almost spiritual truth embedded within the landscape — one rooted in memory, nostalgia, and a strong sense of place.
My work draws on both my childhood in North Yorkshire and my experiences travelling and teaching internationally. The heat-soaked palettes of the Middle East and Asia continue to influence my use of colour, enriching my interpretations of landscape with warmth and intensity.
I am drawn to the solitude and elemental qualities of wild places — earth, sea, and sky — and to the quiet sense of the divine they hold. Through watercolour, I translate rock, landform, and atmosphere into expressive, fluid paintings that invite contemplation and connection.
