About The Artist
Hi, I’m Betsie. I make art to remind people of the beauty and humor in our everyday lives.
I work in a studio in Garden City, Idaho, where I take inspiration from the local food growers and surrounding landscapes for my oil paintings. My journey to become an artist began at Boise’s Saturday public market where I sold paintings and prints. The patrons who bought my first paintings wanted the funny titles to be visible to share with others. I thought, “Why not turn these into greeting cards?” The more humorous and naughtier the captions, the more customers bought them! One market patron said, “These aren’t naughty, they’re tastefully naughty!”
Thank you for giving my art a place in this world.
I sell my work at open studio events and by appointment, Idaho Art Gallery, BOSCO (Boise Open Studio Collective Org), and by commission. I earned a double-major at the University of Washington in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts and Communications, where I fell in love with oil painting.
When not painting, I bake cakes (well) and sourdough (not well) with my nine-year-old, chase her around the soccer pitch, run in the foothills, camp, backpack and travel with my family, meditate, and read novels by the wood burning stove in our creaky old house.
Artist Statement
As our world becomes engrossed in digital media and artificial intelligence, I feel increasingly drawn to document what feels real through my oil paintings. Real, physical objects. Real vegetables grown by real people with their hands in the dirt, working to nourish their communities. Real cakes made to celebrate birthdays, weddings, and ease the pain of loss. Real toys from our childhoods. Real connection. I aim to paint these things so realistically that viewers want to reach into the canvas and feel them and are reminded that lovely little delights exist all around us. Food, at its best, unites people, as it always did my four sisters and me growing up. My parents required us to eat dinner together every night, no matter life’s challenges (and we had many).
I often feature foods made by local bakers, restaurants, and food growers, commemorating their efforts through my passion for painting. My realistic painting technique requires extreme attention to detail, and I spend many hours mixing colors to achieve a large spectrum of value and rich chroma. I see the world through a hyper color lens and make bold choices in my paintings to share my colorful view of life.
Betsie's Original Oil Paintings
Head over to www.BetsieRichardson.com to view Betsie's full gallery of still life, interior, landscape and animal paintings. Contact Betsie at hello@betsierichardson.com about purchasing an original oil painting.