Owd Lasses Art

Meet the Owd Lasses — ordinary women with extraordinary stories.

Sue Dewhurst’s Northern figurative paintings celebrate the women who rarely made it into the history books but absolutely ran the show. Rooted in Northern humour, working-class life and social history, these are women from bingo halls, seaside towns, chapel pews, factory floors and family gatherings.

Each original painting comes with a backstory — sometimes funny, sometimes poignant and occasionally outrageous. Art about women you knew, women you remember, and quite possibly the woman you’ve become.

Chapter One: Ghost Town

Paintings exploring the emotional residue of post-industrial Britain — places where memory lingers long after communities, industries and certainties have disappeared. Quiet, cinematic works balancing nostalgia, isolation and unease.

Alice – Ghost Town Series | Large Original Narrative Painting by Sue Dewhurst
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Chapter Two: Chapel

A series inspired by chapel culture, ritual and the quiet endurance of Northern women. These paintings capture moments of routine, restraint and small-town morality with tenderness, humour and emotional depth.

Chapter Three: Working Girls

Portraits of the women who kept Britain going — barmaids, hairdressers, dinner ladies and shop workers. Celebrating humour, resilience and working-class female identity through stories of labour, pride and performance.

Chapter Four: Owd Lasses

An expanding cast of witty, complex Northern women inspired by memory, gossip and lived experience. Each painting combines humour and pathos with an accompanying backstory,
creating a fictional-social archive of British life.

Chapter Five: The 70s Men

Paintings exploring masculinity, camaraderie and awkward social performance in 1970s Britain. From office outings to military memories, these works balance humour and melancholy with sharp observation and affection.

Chapter Six: The Flat Series

Stories unfolding behind drawn curtains and thin walls. This series explores modern British isolation, domestic rituals and the emotional theatre hidden inside ordinary flats, balancing dark humour with quiet humanity.

Chapter Seven: Wedding Guests

Inspired by found 1970s wedding photographs, this series captures the chaos, aspiration and emotional awkwardness of British family celebrations — smoking brides, sulking bridesmaids, sideburns, hangovers and all.