Artist Tess Newall’s Decorative World
Known for her bespoke murals and hand-painted homewares that evoke the unspoiled beauty of the English countryside, artist Tess Newall’s decorative designs mirror the verdant landscapes of the world around her. “I grew up with an artist mother, who taught me how to find inspiration in the everyday, particularly in the world around us,” Tess says, photographed against the lush—if sometimes intemperate—backdrop of a British Summer.
“Humans have always told stories on walls and through the spaces they inhabit,” Tess says, likening her art to a concept that continues to inspire her. “Our surroundings change how we feel,” and has evolved the way she approaches getting dressed as she moves between meetings in London and evenings as a family, awash in the golden light of a Sussex sunset. We spent the day with the mother of three—pictured in the Journal alongside daughters Romy, 4, and Alma, 2—talking about her creative process, dressing for life in the country, and the commissions in her queue right now.
Favorite part about Summer in Sussex with your family?
The hedgerows spilling out onto the country lanes, full of ferns, cow parsley, and wildflowers; cycling from the studio to the beach with our kids after work, for an evening swim and a bucket barbeque; and the golden light of an early morning or late evening, stretching over the South Downs National Park. We moved here from London five years ago, and we feel very lucky to be close enough to still work in London a lot, but also come home to this glorious countryside and space.
How do you approach getting dressed for intemperate Summer weather in the UK?
I love the different seasons we have in Britain, but I actually wear very similar clothes year-round: denim dungarees with blouses when I'm working—relaxed dresses when I'm not—layered with jumpers and tights when it's cold, and Blundstone boots year-round.
My dress collection is a mixture of second-hand—Irish linen smock dresses with huge pockets, Edwardian lawn dresses in white cotton and lace, Laura Ashley patterned pinafores, and timeless new ones like my favorite DÔEN pieces. The Cloth Shop on Portobello Road also makes beautiful crossover aprons which I wear both at work and home, so I can climb ladders and weed the vegetable patch without worrying about getting my clothes mucky. I like to wear clothes that I love every day, but never feel too precious about them.
How does your work as an artist influence how you mix color and texture? What kind of pieces do you wear most often?
How I dress is inevitably informed by how I paint. I have a strong reaction to color combinations and patterns—they either work for my eye or don't, and so much of my day is spent changing palettes and patterns until I'm happy with how they speak to one another. I'm drawn to clothing with nostalgic floral prints—which many of my wallpapers also have—and clothes with embroidered or patterned trims, in the same way that my wallpapers and murals often have complementary borders. I always want to wear the things that I paint, and paint the things that I wear!
From left: Tess wears the Stanza Dress; Tess wears the Farley Top with her own overalls
How do you stay inspired creatively?
I grew up with an artist mother who taught me how to find inspiration in the everyday, particularly in the natural world around us. I'm forever grateful to her for that and try to teach my own children to see, rather than to just look. I also try to take the time to go to galleries, museums, or a play with a theater set, which transports you to another world. And I have a large and varied library of books, covering Swedish farmhouses, Eastern European embroideries, Indian miniature painting, Pompeii's villas, etc. because humans have always told stories on walls and through the spaces they inhabit, and that as a concept inspires me more than anything. Our surroundings change how we feel.
What are you working on now?
Whether it's planning and sampling in the studio or painting on site, I am usually working on four projects at once. I’ve just painted a barrel-vaulted dining room in the Scottish Highlands. We gave the space a textured wall wash, and then painted a trellis of foliage growing up the curved ceiling, inspired by trees on the estate.
I'm currently in the studio painting samples for a bedroom mural which we are doing for Jake Arnold in California later this month. A garland of wildflowers will weave around the edge of the ceiling, spilling onto the walls in parts. I am also expanding my Herbarium wallpaper collection, with a greener design featuring ferns and wild garlic called Herbarium 'Forest', launching in September.
Can you walk us through a regular commission? How long does it take from start to finish?
Every project is unique, but the process is similar. A client will either come to me asking what I think could work in their space, or they might have a loose idea that they would like me to develop. I like to hear about what the room will be used for, and the kind of atmosphere they would like to create. I will then collate reference imagery to show where my thoughts are, and their feedback on those thoughts helps to gauge the direction we go in—it's a very collaborative process.
Once the project is booked, we work up a digital sketch in the studio to decide the scale and palette, alongside painted samples on board to establish the paint treatment. So, we are well prepared before starting on site, but there is still a very organic element to painting a mural. I always let the space lead the mural, and additions that I hadn't thought about in the studio will inevitably happen on site—it's also the moment of magic when a project really comes to life. It can be exhausting at times, painting for days on end in often quite awkward positions, but I honestly feel so lucky to call this my job, and to be able to create wallpapers that allow more people to achieve a hand-painted feel in their home.
Tess wears the Candelilla Nightgown
“ I like to wear clothes that I love every day, but never feel too precious about them.”
- Tess Newall
Tess wears the Frances Top and Diana Jean in Bleu d'Hier Wash; her littles wear the Lily Dress and the Bailey Dress
