“And painted portraits have a life of their own that comes from deep in the soul of the painter and where the machine cannot go” Vincent Van Gogh
As will come as no surprise Harriet has had a deep fascination with people’s faces and therefore portraits for as long as she can remember. It is more than just the psychology of someone that can be captured and translated through a portrait for Harriet; it is the story. It is the challenge of trying to unearth the essence of someone through subtle nods to their character and the use of symbolism throughout the painting. As she says “I write my story in paint and then when other people see it they can create their own.”
B.1990. Harriet has been painting oil portraits for over a decade. She trained for almost 4 years in traditional portraiture at Charles Cecil Studios, in Florence. After finishing art school, Harriet has worked as a commissioned portrait artist from her London Studio. Her work has been exhibited in many prestigious competitions such as the Royal Society of Portrait PaintersP and the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize, and is owned in private collections throughout the UK and Europe, including the British Royal Collection.
This intense and formal training laid the foundations from which Harriet found her own contemporary style of portraiture, one now honed through all her years of experience. While in dialogue with the traditional Masters of portraiture Harriet’s work is a uniquely timeless, anchored firmly in the present by a unique eye for interesting compositions and a bold approach to both subject and colour. Harriet loves to find the space in a painting to let her subjects breathe, and her broadly muted palette is often sharpened with pops of vibrant colour that are powerfully expressive of individual personality or place. She has a particular love of painting children, of capturing an unfiltered portrait of character found in the innocent moments of childhood.
For enquiries into the price of paintings, commissions, or further information about the process please contact me
Education/Exhibitions
- June 2023 Exhibited in The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, Online
- June 2023 “World’s Colliding” collaboration with fashion designer Aimee Joyce London
- April 2023 Artdom Project, Opening in Oslo
- Feb 2023 Art on a Postcard Auction, Fitzrovia Gallery and Online.
- November 2022 Exhibition at The Chelsea Arts Club
- July 2022 “Somewhat Strange” Solo Exhibition with The Gallery Green and Stone, London
- June 2022 Exhibited with Soho Revue’s collaboration with Little Scarlet Door, Soho, London
- May 2022 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
- March 2022 Exhibited in The Violet Hour’s pop-up “Still, like air”, Online
- 2022 Included in the Cramer and Bell Ukrainian Fundraiser, Online
- 2021 Exhibited in The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, Online
- 2020 Christmas Sale at Haslemere Framing, Haslemere
- 2020 Highly commended at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
- 2020 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London (http://therp.co.uk/)
- 2019 Finalist in ARC Salon, online
- 2019 Exhibited in The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, London
- 2018 Fiona Lawrenson Antique and Paintings Sale, Surrey
- 2018 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
- 2017 Exhibited in Chelsea Arts Society Annual Exhibition, London
- 2017 Included in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ “Top Portrait Painters 2017” – http://therp.co.uk/top-portrait-painters-2017/
- 2017 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
- 2016 Student Exhibition at Charles H. Cecil Studios, Florence
- 2013-16 Charles Cecil Studios, Florence
- 2010-13 English Literature degree, Exeter University