
Hayley Anne Montague is a contemporary British painter whose work explores the fragile space between memory, emotion, and the natural world.
Hayley’s paintings emerge from quiet observation — the slow shift of seasons, the weight of changing light, and the steadying presence of wildflowers, trees, and the natural forms found throughout Epping Forest. Her work explores the instinctive places we turn to when language falters: moments held between loss and renewal, stillness and movement, absence and return.
She paints what is felt before it is understood, giving form to emotions that arrive without words. Poetry sits close to her practice; many pieces begin as fragments of writing, or become the subject of a poem before they resolve as paintings. These words are rarely published, held back as part of the private process that shapes each body of work.
Over time, these parallel threads — image and text — have begun to gather into a single conversation. A limited book pairing selected poems with artworks is planned for release in September 2026.
Hayley works slowly, producing a small number of original paintings each year, alongside limited-run canvas editions. Each collection follows the rhythm of a season: a quiet unfolding, a controlled release, and a return to stillness before the next body of work begins.