Bee Doughty-Pratt
Bee paints contemporary abstract artworks, using layered oils on canvas and sometimes oils and inks on heavily textured board.
A vibrant but earthy palette is used intuitively in layers to produce either abstract landscapes or purely abstract paintings.
Bee generally works on large canvases, at least 1m x 1m and often larger, frequently working on several at once, coming back to each one repeatedly to continue the layers over a period of weeks.
Bee lives rurally, in a very quiet location on the banks of the Otaki River with nothing but the river, the tuis and sometimes overhead ducks and magpies, to listen to. After having lived and worked in a situation where traffic noise was a way of life, Bee loves the peace and quiet and the opportunity to alternate working outdoors on the property with painting.
Bee's ‘studio’, a former garden shed, is now dedicated to art, with good light, plenty of benches,at least three easels in residence at any one time, and magnificent river views right down the Otaki Forks gorge.
Bee describes herself as almost entirely self-trained and has come back to painting after a few decades where her only creative endeavours centred around interior design, landscaping and the occasional design of on-line websites or marketing material using various software packages.
Bee has recently spent workshop time with established and award-winning artists Jane Kellahan and Susan Knaap. Bee enjoys immersing herself in the arts scene generally, attending exhibitions, visiting galleries, talking to other artists and reading arty books!
Bee refers to art as being auto-biographical and believes like many other artists, she is inspired by life events. "The creative process almost always starts with a colour choice and a canvas size and proceeds from there". Bee says because she enjoys layering paint, canvases seldom end up the colour originally chosen.
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All images are protected under Copyright Law.
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