“I have come to realise I love painting people, but I adore painting a portrait with a story. There’s something so compelling about a portrait that makes you question what it was that the sitter was thinking about or feeling. An energy that they exude which I really enjoy trying to capture; I try to reveal that moment, something real.”
Kitty Bellamy’s career as an artist started back in 2007 after the birth of her first daughter, but her love of painting and creating was obvious from childhood. Her self directed learning journey has seen her explore many subjects over the 2 subsequent decades. Kitty’s process is iterative, and through it, the slow evolution of her work allows her to explore the way in which she sees the world and the people around her. Kitty describes herself as a visual story teller and loves people watching, choosing to paint subjects for whom she can see, or even imagine a narrative. Whilst she loves to share the real life stories told to her alongside many of her commissions, she takes a more enigmatic approach to the works she creates for her own practice; choosing to allow the individual viewer to decide for themselves what story the painting elicits.
Kitty lives in York, with her wonderfully supportive fiancé, two full-time children, 2 part-time children and 2 full-on dogs. She was also recently a contestant on Sky Arts: Portrait Artist of the Year, which airs later this autumn.
“I’m at my happiest when I’m in my studio, playing with paint and trying to capture the essence of what makes a portrait look and feel like the person it’s supposed to be"
Kitty Bellamy