Joe Kiney Whitmore · The Penthouse · Spinners Mill · Leigh

You sit.
I paint.

A few hours in the studio. Tea, conversation, oil paint. You leave with a portrait made on the day, in the room, of you.

Reserve Your Sitting
The Experience

No preparation needed.
Leave with a painting.

You arrive at the studio at Spinners Mill. I put the kettle on. We figure out where you want to sit, how the light falls, what music you want on. Then I paint you.

It's not a photoshoot. It's not a formal commission with months of back-and-forth. It's a few hours in a room together — and at the end of it, there's a painting that wouldn't exist without that specific afternoon.

The afternoon tends to take on a life of its own.

Joe Kiney Whitmore presenting work
ARTIST TALK · PIER 4, WIGAN
Joe Kiney Whitmore at private view
Joe Kiney Whitmore working on large canvas
Selected Works · Oil on Canvas & Panel

The work

Francis — oil on panel. Acquired by The Drumcroon Collection, 2025
ACQUIRED · DRUMCROON COLLECTION 2025
Portrait — oil on canvas
Portrait study — oil on canvas
Figure study — oil on canvas
Portrait — oil on canvas
Portrait with dog — oil on canvas
Richard — palette knife portrait, oil on canvas
Ruth — oil on wood panel, 2023
Before You Decide

Meet the painter

A portrait sitting is as much about the person holding the brush as what ends up on the canvas. This is who you'd be spending the afternoon with.

Joe Kiney Whitmore
JOE KINEY WHITMORE
Oil Painter · The Penthouse
About the Artist

Joe Kiney Whitmore

Oil painter. Based at The Penthouse, Spinners Mill, Leigh.

I've been painting people from life for over a decade — in studios, at life drawing sessions, on the street, and in people's homes. The human face is what I keep coming back to. There's always more there than you expect.

My wider practice takes in large-scale figurative work, performance, and installation — but portrait painting is where the practice started, and it remains the thing I find most demanding and most rewarding in equal measure.

I run The Penthouse as a working studio and occasional event space at Spinners Mill — one of the finest artist studios in the North West.

SELECTED CREDENTIAL

Francis, oil on traditionally prepared wooden panel — Permanently acquired by The Drumcroon Collection, Wigan, 2025

AVAILABLE FOR

Studio portrait sittings · Private commissions · Mobile sittings across the North West · Corporate and institutional commissions

Joe Kiney Whitmore
Private view
Working on large canvas
Why a Portrait

It's not just for you.

A painted portrait is one of the few things you can buy that genuinely gets more valuable with time.

Not financially — though sometimes that too — but in the way it sits in a family. The grandmother on the wall. The portrait of your father at forty that your kids will grow up knowing. There's nothing else quite like it in a home.

People spend £300 on a meal, on a jacket, on a weekend away. Those things are gone. A portrait painted from life, in oil, in a studio, on a specific afternoon — that's still there in fifty years.

It's a gift for yourself. It's a gift for the people who come after you. And it makes an extraordinary present for someone you love — something three siblings might quietly split between them for their mother's birthday, and she'll have on her wall for the rest of her life.

CRAFT

Oil on canvas or board, painted directly from observation. The same process painters have used for five hundred years — because it still produces the best results.

PERMANENCE

Not a print. Not a photograph. A unique, original painting — one object that exists once, of a specific person, on a specific day.

STORY

Every person who sees it in your home will ask about it. Where was it painted? Who's the artist? How long did it take? The afternoon becomes part of what the painting is.

Sittings & Pricing

Three ways in.

The Sitting
Studio Portrait
£300

The proper version. Long enough to settle in, to get past the self-consciousness, to end up with something that actually looks like you.

  • 2.5–3.5 hours at The Penthouse
  • Oil portrait, medium format
  • Tea, music if you want it, no rush
  • Finished portrait yours on the day
  • Process photographs included
Reserve a Sitting
The Commission
Larger Work
£600+

Multiple sittings, a larger canvas, more time. Where necessary, photographic reference can be used to complete the work. For when you want the painting to be the thing — not just a record of an afternoon.

  • Multiple sittings (agreed schedule)
  • Large-format oil on canvas or panel
  • Full process documentation
  • Framing consultation available
  • Pricing by scale & complexity
Enquire
Private Sitting
I Come to You
Price on
Application

I travel to you — your home, your estate, your boardroom. Painted in your own environment, your own light. The whole process shaped around you and your space.

  • Free face-to-face consultation first
  • Full day sitting at your location
  • North West & beyond by arrangement
  • Large-format oil on canvas
  • Corporate & institutional enquiries welcome
Enquire
On the Day

What actually happens

On Arrival

Find the studio

Spinners Mill, Leigh. I'll send directions when you book. Come up, knock, I'll be in. Kettle goes straight on.

First 20 Minutes

Getting settled

We work out where you want to sit, get the lighting right. Music on or off — whatever suits you. Have a look around if you like. Most people relax once the painting starts.

The Sitting

You sit, I paint

Talk, don't talk, look at your phone, stare out the window. I do the watching for both of us. It doesn't have to feel significant — it just is.

The End

You see it, you take it

When I'm done, I'll turn it round. You take it home that day. It's yours.

What People Say

From sitters and collectors

"I wasn't sure what to expect from a portrait sitting at first, but it turned out to be a truly special experience. Joe made the session feel natural and relaxed, the conversations flowed and his ability to observe and capture small details was remarkable. Seeing the portrait develop over the hours of the sitting was fascinating, and the final piece is something I'll treasure for years."

— Portrait sitting, 2024

"Commissioned Joe for a portrait of my partner, our dogs and I. He did an amazing job — a piece of art we will cherish forever."

— Mike Kay ★★★★★

"We have 3 paintings that Joe has done. He has done a portrait of both my and my husband's mum. They are brilliant, the likeness is fantastic. Can definitely recommend Joe's art."

— Clare Beardmore ★★★★★

"Big fan of Joe's work and more than pleased with the excellent portrait piece that was done for me last Christmas."

— Martin Worthington ★★★★★

"I was impressed by what he managed to achieve in one sitting, with what for me was a pleasing result."

— Richard, portrait sitting

"Joe talked occasionally as he worked and created a safe place to respond. His portrait was observant, perceptive and authentic."

— David, portrait sitting
Reserve Your Place

Book a sitting

I take a limited number of sittings to keep the work what it should be. Fill in the form and I'll come back to you within a couple of days to sort a date.

No money changes hands here — I'll come back to you within a couple of days and we'll sort the details from there.