BIOGRAPHY
Betty Wells is a contemporary painter based in the Great Pacific Northwest, known for her evocative portraits and animal figures rendered in an abstract realistic style. Her work blends a rich mix of media—including ink, collage, spray paint, acrylic, and oil—to explore themes of memory, identity, and transformation.
Betty began her artistic journey as a high school sophomore, receiving her first portrait commission in graphite. A year later, her acrylic painting of a ballerina was exhibited in a local gallery, marking the start of her public art presence. After a time away from the canvas, she has returned with renewed passion, creating work that draws from life, memory, and dreams of tomorrow.
Her process begins in color—often sparked by dream imagery—evolving through form and intuition. Each piece is a dialogue between experience and emotion, guided by her belief that painting is both a reflection and revelation of the soul. For Betty, art is not just a practice—it is a daily pursuit of wisdom through visual language.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Though life has led me down many winding roads, I have always found my way back to art. It remains the language of my soul—spoken in strokes of paint, in lines of graphite, and in the quiet beauty I see in the world around me. After a period of reflective stillness, I return to my creative practice with a renewed sense of purpose—not simply to make art, but to reconnect with the essence of who I am.
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.