Start of 'Deborah' Illustrated Portrait

Start of 'Deborah' illustrated portrait for 'Inspiring Women' series. Deborah was a Jewish Prophetess & Judge of Israel (12th century BC) - a truly awesome & powerful woman from a VERY long time ago!

Want to see more? Check out my website: www.bethida.co.uk The 'Inspiring Women' series so far is under 'commercial & editorial' illustration.

#deborah #prophet #prophetess #jewish #jew #jewishwomen #powerfulwomen #femalehistory #feminism #history #art#illustration #portrait #illustratedportrait #artist #artblog #artblogger #bethlouellaaulton #drawings 

Progress Video of 'Fit'

Here is a progress video for my painting 'Fit'. My fine art work centres around celebrating people (& places) holistically, not just their physical form. I find people and places inspiring and my work is a response to that which, in turn, inspires & encourages others.


If you want to check out more of my artwork please go to: http://www.bethlouella.com/

'Adoption'Progress Pictures

Here are some progress pictures of 'Adoption' (100cm x 150cm paint on canvas).  I don't usually change colours whilst painting but the blue wasn't quite working for me.  The painting is a celebration of adoption (physical and spiritual) and I think the warm, ethereal yellow was the right choice in the end.

You can view a higher resolution of the final painting here  

and the same painting plus other artwork on my website 

The Art of Caring, St Pancras

Three of my pieces are on display at the Conference Centre Gallery, St Pancras, London until 19th October. This is the second part of the Art of Caring exhibition. Here are the selected pieces that are on display, all of which are connected with the theme of caring - love the concept of this exhibition.

Progress Pictures of 'Mothers'

For those of you that like progress pictures...

View on Saatchi Art

Henley Series

I have some of my 'Henley Series' artwork (prints and cards) in Tiny Gallery, Henley-on-Thames. 

Henley Blue Church

Henley Doors

Henley Angel

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'.

The Art of Caring

Today is the last day of The Art of Caring exhibition which has been on display at St George's, Tooting, London. Here are my pieces that have been exhibited there, all are connected with the theme of caring. Great concept for an exhibition and big thanks to the organisers.
#theartofcaring #adoption #gift #art #painting #portraits

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

Small Faces Exhibtion

It has been great being a part of the HUGE Small Faces Exhibition which is made up of LOADS of postcard portraits displayed in the Solent Showcase Gallery in Southampton. There were nearly 600 people at the private view and they expect many, many more to visit the exhibition which is up until 21st April.  It is great seeing so many different mini portraits side by side, especially if you love portraiture like me!

You can take the impressive 360 virtual tour if you wish (you should be able to spot my 'Red Queen' straight away): https://www.solent.ac.uk/360/showcase/s

To see more detailed versions of my postcard portraits and information about them, please click on the Saatchi Art links below:

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Drawing-Spiritual-Boadicea-Green/428253/3479117/view

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Drawing-Self-Portrait-Silver-and-Purple/428253/3478904/view

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Drawing-Red-Queen/428253/3478715/view

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

  

NEW work - Mountain

I am enjoying experimenting with a range of media. This piece is a self portrait exploring belonging, hopes and dreams. I often use gold and silver in my artwork and wanted to have a gold object as a focal point. I like to show elements of the 'unseen' in my artwork and have focused on the intangible; hopes and dreams. The belonging elements of the image link in with my Native American heritage and are subtly referenced.

Saatchi Art

Mountain 29.7 cm (w) x 42 cm (h) mixed media on paper

Adoption

My newest painting:

Adoption  100cm (w) x 150cm (h) paint on canvas

It is about physical and spiritual adoption.

View / buy prints on Saatchi

New website on the way...

Soon my new website will be launched! 

For now, I created an additional online portfolio using portfoliobox (I would highly recommend using them). You can check mine out at: 

www.bethlouella.portfoliobox.net

Below the Surface Woman Blue

Here is another portrait from the 'Below the Surface' body of work.  I went to the Stanley Spencer Gallery recently and admired a sketched portrait of his first wife in hard pencil.  It inspired me to use hard pencil in this body of work. 

Woman Blue  21cm (w) x 42cm (h) pencil, ink and paint on paper

View / buy prints on Saatchi

Lineage

Here is another recent painting. It is a self portrait (not a very flattering one, but then that is not what self portraits are about!).  It is called Lineage, the painting is about heritage, ancestry, what gets passed down to us and what shapes us.  My dreads look like tree branches so I created a 'family tree' / 'tree of life' with the layout of my hair.  The splashes of colour represent different elements being passed down, the things that impact / shape us and the results. The turquoise represents bitter sweet elements and the yellow represents positive elements, such as love, joy and faith. 

Lineage 61cm (w) x 91cm (h) paint on canvas 

View / buy prints on Saatchi

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.

New Portrait - FIT

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

View / buy prints on Saatchi

Here is my documentation of 'Rebecca'...

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