BIOGRAPHY
Betty Wells is a contemporary painter based in the Great Pacific Northwest, creating evocative portraits and animal figures that blend abstraction with realism. Working in a layered mixed‑media process—ink, collage, spray paint, acrylic, and oil—she explores themes of memory, identity, and quiet transformation. Her work is known for its emotional depth, symbolic detail, and the contemplative stillness it invites.
Betty’s artistic path began early. As a high school sophomore, she received her first portrait commission in graphite, followed by the exhibition of her acrylic ballerina painting in a local gallery the next year. After time away from the studio, she returned with renewed clarity and devotion, bringing a deeper well of experience and spiritual grounding to her practice.
Her process often begins in color or dream imagery, unfolding intuitively through layered marks and shifting forms. For Betty, painting is both reflection and revelation—a daily pursuit of wisdom and a way of giving shape to the stories that rise from the soul. She creates her work while rooted in a life filled with love—wonderfully married, with children and sweet grandchildren who bring joy and grounding to her days.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Painting has become a place of renewed joy for me—a space where curiosity, gratitude, and color meet. As my sight has gradually returned, so has a fresh sense of wonder, and I step into the studio each day eager to explore what unfolds on the canvas.
My current work explores the fusion of tradition and experimentation through mixed media. I use acrylics, inks, spray paints, and refine many pieces with oil paint—materials that allow for both immediacy and depth. Each painting is layered with intention, blending texture, light, and gesture to create spaces that invite slow looking. I am drawn to the quiet details—the ones at first unseen—that wait patiently to be discovered. These subtle moments mirror the way meaning often reveals itself over time, rewarding those who pause, return, and truly see.
I currently work full time in my studio, fully immersed in the process of making. This ongoing journey is one of rediscovery, and I invite others to walk with me as it unfolds. Trust the process, trust the journey—above all, trust in the One who sees clearly even when we cannot see.