Extended until Sunday 21st November!

An exhibition at ArtsTrail Gallery by Beth Watkins called “Waterways”, featuring live watercolour art demonstrations by Beth on Wednesdays and Saturdays where she will be sharing her skills with visitors.

The exhibition opens from Tuesday 19th October to Sunday 21st November 2021. All are welcome.

Beth is a Watercolour Artist from Coventry UK. She started her artistic career as a Graphic Designer after graduating from Leicester Polytechnic in 1986. She then worked for a number of Design Agencies in and around her hometown until 1999 when she gave up her career to raise her family.

During this period, the field of Graphic Design technologically changed rapidly, making returning to it at the time quite difficult. By this time, she found that she craved more hands-on creativity. At the age of 51 and after spending time looking at the work of artists online, her previous interest in watercolour quickly became more than just a hobby. A year later in July 2017, after having produced over 100 paintings, she started her studio Lagarto Studio Watercolours.

During the first COVID 19 lockdown of 2020 Beth took part in the ‘Free Portraits for NHS Heroes’ initiative. She found it a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience, if not a little nerve wracking. She completed 23 free portraits and was featured in her local newspaper (The Coventry Telegraph) and local Radio Station BBC Coventry and Warwick Radio.

Previously, Beth had mainly only painted animals, subjects from nature or inanimate objects but the Portrait for Heroes exhibition had given her a newfound fondness of figurative work. At the same time a real desire for escapism was developing and she would walk between lockdowns around Stratford-Upon-Avon taking photos from which to paint. Boats, water and the sea started to become an obsession. Initially thinking this was simply due to a fascination with light, movement and reflection, she soon realised that it was much more.

2019 and 2020 were incredibly sad years for Beth’s family as her Sister In Law Michelle Jones (Shell) was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. She sadly passed away at the end of January 2020 at the age of 38 just before the covid pandemic. Beth found that she was painting more as a way of escape and this sadness along with the lockdowns had given her a subject matter, she was developing a real enthusiasm and passion for. Her waterscapes and seascapes are now what she is known for today.

Beth works exclusively in watercolour and a well-known fact amongst artists it is not the easiest of mediums. Beth states,
“You are always under pressure, often only having minutes before the paint dries and then mistakes can rarely be corrected. It is both unforgiving, and unpredictable but, these are the very characteristics that make it an incredibly exciting medium in which to work. I love the fluidity, the movement you can achieve, and the very fact you can’t totally control it, you almost dance with it, it’s a very emotive medium. I love the challenges the medium presents and the fact that you cannot paint the same painting, the same way twice. I also love that it is easily transportable, reasonably priced and far less messy than other mediums.”

Beth has had several small exhibitions and participated in Coventry & Warwickshire Open Studios. She also has a permanent display at the Farmers Fayre Shop and Café in the Stoneleigh Park (NAC) Kenilworth. She is a member of the United Artspace community and credits them entirely for giving her the support and confidence she needs to realise her dream.

The exhibition will feature live watercolour art demonstrations by Beth on Wednesdays and Saturdays where she will be sharing her skills with visitors.

The exhibition runs from Tuesday 19th October to Sunday 21st November 2021. All are welcome.