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 the Capital City Public Market, open studio events, fine art fairs, and BOSCO (Boise Open Studio Collective Org). I earned a double-major at the University of Washington in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts and Communications, where I fell in love with oil paintings.
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
My oil paintings share a joyful and humorous view of the food, animals, landscapes and objects that represent our work, passions and everyday lives.
I paint subjects that bring me delight, from scratch made donuts to my six-year-old's cardboard box fort to a baby Highland cow leaning into its big-horned mama. I want viewers to feel like you could reach into the canvas and squeeze a lemon or feel the texture of a bison and believe this beauty exists in the world--because it does.
Still life subjects are my favorite muse. To find inspiration, I sort through beets at the market, buy cakes from local bakeries, and pour craft beer into pint glasses. I arrange the painting subjects in my studio and occasionally outside to get the desired light, and use a shadow box with a direct light source to create a chiaroscuro effect. I work from photographs of the food items that rot or lose their foam and fizz (for obvious reasons) and to capture every tiny nuance that makes each subject remarkable.
My landscape and animal paintings capture those moments when nature stuns us with the power of a fleeting moment, like a gift for being present with the environment. I work with professional wildlife photographers (shout out, Laurie Childs!) and my own photos on outdoor adventures. I’m inspired by striking colors, powerful weather and scenes in nature that tell a story.
Translating the wonder of life into something beautiful just for the sake of it is one of my favorite traits of being an artist.
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.