“I write stories
in paint.”
Contemporary Fine Art Commissions and Paintings
“It is more than just the psychology of someone that can be captured through a portrait; it is the story.”
Harriet has had a deep fascination with people’s faces and therefore portraits for as long as she can remember. It is more than just the psychology of someone that can be captured and translated through a portrait for Harriet; it is the story. It is the challenge of trying to unearth the essence of someone through subtle nods to their character and the use of symbolism throughout the painting. As she says “I write my story in paint and then when other people see it they can create their own.”
B.1990. Harriet has been painting oil portraits for over a decade. She trained for almost 4 years in traditional portraiture at Charles Cecil Studios, in Florence.
After finishing art school, Harriet has worked as a commissioned portrait artist from her London Studio. Her work has been exhibited in many prestigious competitions such as the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize, and is owned in private collections throughout the UK and Europe, including the British Royal Collection.
This intense and formal training laid the foundations from which Harriet found her own contemporary style of portraiture, one now honed through all her years of experience. While in dialogue with the traditional Masters of portraiture Harriet’s work is a uniquely timeless, anchored firmly in the present by a unique eye for interesting compositions and a bold approach to both subject and colour.
Harriet loves to find the space in a painting to let her subjects breathe, and her broadly muted palette is often sharpened with pops of vibrant colour that are powerfully expressive of individual personality or place. She has a particular love of painting children, of capturing an unfiltered portrait of character found in the innocent moments of childhood.
Exhibitions
May 2024 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
June 2023 Exhibited in The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, Online
June 2023 “World’s Colliding” collaboration with fashion designer Aimee Joyce London
April 2023 Artdom Project, Opening in Oslo
Feb 2023 Art on a Postcard Auction, Fitzrovia Gallery and Online.
November 2022 Exhibition at The Chelsea Arts Club
July 2022 “Somewhat Strange” Solo Exhibition with The Gallery Green and Stone, London
June 2022 Exhibited with Soho Revue’s collaboration with Little Scarlet Door, Soho, London
May 2022 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
March 2022 Exhibited in The Violet Hour’s pop-up “Still, like air”, Online
2022 Included in the Cramer and Bell Ukrainian Fundraiser, Online
2021 Exhibited in The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, Online
2020 Christmas Sale at Haslemere Framing, Haslemere
2020 Highly commended at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
2020 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
2019 Finalist in ARC Salon, online
2019 Exhibited in The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, London
2018 Fiona Lawrenson Antique and Paintings Sale, Surrey
2018 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
2017 Exhibited in Chelsea Arts Society Annual Exhibition, London
2017 Included in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ “Top Portrait Painters 2017”
2017 Exhibited in The Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries, London
2016 Student Exhibition at Charles H. Cecil Studios, Florence
2013-16 Charles Cecil Studios, Florence
2010-13 English Literature degree, Exeter University