How I Work

I paint in nature,
off the beaten track.

I am drawn to wild, untamed, ancient places and immerse myself in their primordial energies. I find myself on the craggy cliffs above the sea in Devon, climbing up steep tracks of chamois in the Alps or wandering where the long horned cattle roam through Epping Forest.

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I travel to remote places, carrying my equipment, letting my intuition guide…

I leave London, to the wild, for two or three weeks at a time. I walk, carrying my rucksack, painting materials, tarps for shelter, food and clothing. As I walk, I open my soul, my eyes, my senses, until a spot calls me. When I paint, there is no agenda. I tune into my environment and step into a heightened state of consciousness and keep my focus, listening to what wants to show itself. I create the painting there and then, on this spot & on this day, and I feel it in my heart and bones once it is complete.

I build shelters, work with the elements & with feathers I find…

I work on paper in mixed media, pen, brush and ink, pastels, collage, gouache, pencils of various kinds, watercolour pencils and more. I work with the elements, with the wind. On breezy days I might choose to work with wetter materials which the wind will disperse and dry. I work with the temperature, I draw lines of ink with a pen and nib, while simultaneously brushing out these ink marks with my other hand, allowing the spread of these marks to be shaped by the dryness of the air. I work with the land, I find feathers that I shape with my pen knife and use as a quill pen. I drop from a pipette a small pool of ink onto the paper and paint out the wet ink with the feathery part of what once let the bird fly high.

I live in connection & reverence to the land where I am staying…

In the evening I gather my paintings, my gear, leave nothing behind and go back to my yurt, my shepherd’s or gypsy wagon, my tent or wherever I am staying. I travel on my own, I cook and eat produce from the land as best I can and if I have a source on my site I will use the local water.

Often I find myself drawn to return to the same area again and again and again. I become familiar with a place & build a relationship. I make friends with the ancient silver fir, with a group of rocks into which an old beech has clawed its gnarly roots, with a view so vast that I have to ground myself not to lose my footing.

I revisit places I love again & again, through the changing seasons…

Epping Forest is my wild place near London. I come to this ancient forest all through the year. I have slept out there under the sky, I have lit fires and danced. I have met spirits of trees and opened portals to other worlds. And I have painted. Over and over, and always anew. Frequently, the oaks, beeches and hornbeams find their way into the work, often they seem to dance and celebrate the sheer joy of being alive. Or they might show us a glimpse of an ancient myth that we no longer remember. In the summer their branches stretch into a sky that is bluer than blue, and in the autumn the symphony of yellow leaves dropped onto the forest floor by the ancient hornbeams stirs a spiritual note, the veil between the worlds has become thin.

W H A T   T H E    A R T   C R I T I C S   S A Y

“Bettina’s eye is more than a physical eye: yes, it is optical; it is also poetic; most importantly it is spiritual, marrying the inner and outer being of artist and subject in a single vision.

Choosing to work outside, the artist has to work quickly and decisively, translating perception into a rapid accumulation of gestures, themselves articulate and expressive. Success comes down to the directness with which she imbues paint with the life of her eye.”

- Howard Hull, Director of the Brantwood Trust and the Ruskin Foundation