This vibrant community often also inspires and informs the work of the London-born artist. “The paintings are plucked from the hedgerows we walk, the kohlrabi that have just ripened and the conversations we’ve shared about love, life and the land. Those closest to me appear throughout my work as both muses and collaborators”, Ponsonby told The Wick. “A friend might photograph me in the studio, seated before a canvas that already holds his own likeness: cigarette balanced in his mouth, podding a broad bean in the sun trap of the restaurant yard. Within my pieces, I leave subtle traces of my sitters’ inner worlds, offering small but telling details – perhaps a scrap of paper marked with doodles from their latest project – that act as quiet clues to what sparks their joy.”

Last year, Ponsonby’s work Chewing The Cud hung in the National Portrait Gallery, one of the finalists selected for its prestigious Herbert Smith Freehills Award. “To hang under the same roof as some of the paintings that encouraged me to become a painter was wild”, Ponsonby reflects. Next week, the artist opens a new solo exhibition atGillian Jason Gallery. Millie Jason Foster, Founding Director of Gillian Jason Gallery (GJG), is Ponsonby’s champion for The Wick. “At Gillian Jason Gallery we are committed to championing new and pioneering voices, and Emily Ponsonby embodies exactly that.” Foster says. “Her use of the ancient encaustic technique to depict modern-day scenes of gathering feels deeply in tune with the ethos of the gallery”.

She adds that “what strikes me most about Emily is the sheer devotion she brings to her practice. Each painting carries the weight of hours, effort and emotion – the marks of her struggle to bring the image to life are visible in the scrapes of the wax itself. The results are extraordinary: works that glow with presence, intimacy and tenderness. When I first visited her studio in Devon, it became clear that her world is inseparable from her work. Surrounded by a community of makers and shaped by the land around her, she builds inner worlds that honour the rituals of everyday life. Emily’s voice feels both timeless and urgent, and I am proud to support her first solo exhibition in collaboration with a gallery.”

Showcasing a new body of encaustic work, A Warm Life Through Butter at Gillian Jason Gallery (11 September – 18 October). Soon after this, from September 13, Ponsonby will participate in a group show, CAIM with APSARA at the stunning 18th century Slane Castle, Ireland.