Charles Ellis was born in 1960 in Mirfield,West Yorkshire. Formerly a founder member of the seminal punk rock band, 'The Jerks', he now lives in Crouch End, North London. He formed the Dashwood Art Society in 1992 with fellow artist, Alan Hardcastle.

Charles held his first solo exhibition, 'Presence', at the Peggy Jay Gallery, Hampstead, North London in 2017,  as well as exhibiting on a regular basis with the Dashwoods.

'As well as the study of the human form in my large life studies my work is essentially abstract expressionistic. My most recent series of paintings have the recurring theme of falling water with the idea of trying to capture a single moment in time. When the paint falls across the canvas, it creates, when dry, a frozen moment that has a permanent presence and is in every sense of the word still-life.'