Progress Pictures of 'Mothers'

For those of you that like progress pictures...

View on Saatchi Art

NEW exhibition

Thrilled to find out two of my paintings have been selected by the CARISCC competition for a touring exhibition which will be in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds. Here are the two selected portraits: 'Koko' and 'Lineage'.

Here is my new painting: ‘Mothers’, a self portrait (60 cm x 76 cm paint on canvas with photographs). 

I love the genre of self portraiture and the freedom of expression it brings. I painted the self portrait ‘Mothers’ because I wanted to explore the concept of heritage (physical, cultural, emotional, spiritual) and womanhood.  I have Native American heritage and am connected to Kenyan culture hence the hair style, choker style necklace and wrapped material. The necklace depicts my female family tree, showing the eyes of my mother, mother-in-law, grandmothers, great grandmothers…etc.  I focused on the females in my family tree because of the emphasis on womanhood and the influence mothers have. The pose is unusual; I chose to look at the viewer as if I were looking down to give the impression of strength and power.  I wanted to convey that my heritage and the women/mothers that are part of that heritage, empower me.

You can view this painting on Saatchi Art: http://bit.ly/2q23R5i

Fine Art Heroes

I am inspired by many artists but these very influential artists are my all time favourites and have played a big role in shaping my work:

FRIDA KAHLO - 1907-1954 (Mexico)

GUSTAV KLIMT - 1862-1918 (Austria)

AMEDIO MODIGLIANI - 1884-1920 (Italy / France)

Postcard Portraits Exhibition

I created some 'small' portraits for an exhibition in spring.  I have been really enjoying experimenting with watercolour and combining pencil, ink and paint so I decided to use these to create my postcard portraits. I am experimenting with the concept of absence in some of my work (especially pencil work).  As hair is often an identifying feature I have been exploring leaving it blank; I like the aesthetic, that it is a bit unusual and also draws more attention to the face.

 Red Queen

 Self Portrait Silver and Purple

Spiritual Boadicea Green

  

WhatIsItToBeHuman

The WhatIsItToBeHuman year long touring exhibition is drawing to an end. They calculate over 10,000 people have visited the exhibition which is great. I am really pleased to have had 'Retrospective Sisterhood' selected for the exhibition and the organisers have been fantastic.

The exhibition from the WhatIsItToBeHuman website.

This is an old London exhibition advertising image - I think it is pretty clever (and fun), 

I am on the right, under the painted man's feet.

A Nice Surprise

I accidently came across this online...

I'm pleased to have been picked - a nice surprise!

New Portraits

Here are some new portraits of beautiful sitters...

                                                 Rebecca  36cm (w) x 46cm (h) paint on canvas 

 Rebecca II  46cm (w) x 36cm (h) paint on canvas 

Verity  36cm (w) x 46cm (h) paint on canvas 

New Artwork

I am excited about some new portraits... I was in London sketching and photographing models / sitters with amazing hair at the weekend.  I'm really looking forward to creating the final pieces.  I plan to document my process (something I don't usually do) so look out for some videos!

From Retrospective Sisterhood (Diptych)

Portrait Painting

Portraits are my huge passion! I find a broad range of people inspiring and love the challenge of expressing the unseen.  Here are some of my more recent portraits... (you can view them at www.bethlouella.com and some on Saatchi Art www.saatchiart.com/bethlouella)

Koko 80cm (w) x 60cm (h) paint on canvas 

 Murunga  29cm (w) x 20.5cm (h) paint and ink on paper  

 Peter  46cm (w) x 61cm (h) paint on canvas

Retrospective Sisterhood  (Diptych) 120cm (w) x 80cm (h) paint on canvas with embellishment 

Self Portrait Gold  36cm (w) x 46cm (h) paint on canvas with embellishment

 Self Portrait Red  51cm (w) x 61cm (h) paint on canvas with embellishment

  Spiritual Boadicea I  61cm (w) x 91cm (h) paint on canvas with embellishment