My Path to Portrait Painting

I have not followed the traditional academic route to becoming a portrait artist in the UK.  Painting is something I have always been gifted at but not until the age of 30 did I give up a career in research to become a full time artist. In the first five years I sold over 40 pieces and undertook commissions for everything from children’s murals to wedding gifts. 

In recent years though I have found my niche in portrait and figure painting. For me a good painting has to have a sense of mood.  I like it to provoke an emotion in the viewer which makes them return to it time and time again.  Some artists can achieve this with a seasonal landscape. They managed to convey heat or cold so vividly that you can almost feel it;  but I find nothing stirs my viewer quite like the face or figure of the human form and so I now do little else.

I have attained exhibiting membership of several large Art Societies.

Copyright Fiona Holt, 2010