Born in 1975, Lou Blakeway is a Midlands-based painter who holds an MA in Painting from the Manchester School of Art. She completed the Turps Banana Correspondence Course in 2022 and has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Birmingham School of Art. In 2023 she was awarded a bursary from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. She was the 2024/25 Freelands Studio Fellow at Brighton University.

She has exhibited her work at the Royal Academy Summer Show; Fitzrovia Gallery, London; Irving Contemporary, Oxford; New Art Gallery Walsall; Rabley Drawing Centre; OXO London; Mall Galleries, London; RWA, Bristol; Rugby Museum; Hastings Museum and Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and currently has work in A Different Show: Women Artists at Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum.