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Bess Harding

Utterly Opposed

Utterly Opposed

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Some Clarity

Some Clarity

Oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

Quaintly Amusing

Quaintly Amusing

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Some Winter Sun

Some Winter Sun

Oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x 1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

Great Devotion

Great Devotion

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Quite Quietly

Quite Quietly

Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 x 2cm, 41 x 51 x 3cm framed, £595

Exactly Stated

Exactly Stated

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Being Patient

Being Patient

Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 x 2cm, 41 x 51 x 3cm framed, £595

A Tidy Magic

A Tidy Magic

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Porto Rose

Porto Rose

Oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x 1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

An Uncertain Period

An Uncertain Period

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Full Sun

Full Sun

Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 2cm, 41 x 41 x 3cm framed, £525

At Intervals

At Intervals

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

In June

In June

Oil on canvas, 50 x 50cm, framed, £595

A Sense Of Proportion

A Sense Of Proportion

Oil on board, 26 x 30 x 0.5cm, 27 x 31 x 2.5cm framed, £525

Accidental Carnation

Accidental Carnation

Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm, £350

On Each Occasion

On Each Occasion

Oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed, £450

Stolen Stem VII

Stolen Stem VII

Oil on canvas, 32 x 27 x 2.5cm, £325

An Early Casting

An Early Casting

Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 30 x 26 x 3cm framed, £395

On Valentine's

On Valentine's

Oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x 1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

A Brief Hiatus

A Brief Hiatus

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

Draws The Sun

Draws The Sun

SOLD oil on canvas, 20 x 20 x 2cm, 21 x 21 x 3cm framed

To Be Free

To Be Free

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

Show And Tell

Show And Tell

SOLD oil on canvas, 20 x 20 x 2cm, 21 x 21 x 3cm framed

On Company Grounds

On Company Grounds

SOLD oil on canvas, 20 x 20 x 2cm, 21 x 21 x 3cm framed

Another Extreme

Another Extreme

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

Hard To Spot

Hard To Spot

SOLD oil on canvas, 20 x 20 x 2cm, 21 x 21 x 3cm framed

Finally Fading

Finally Fading

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

The Express Purpose

The Express Purpose

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

A Momentary Calm

A Momentary Calm

SOLD oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 2cm, 42 x 42 x 3cm framed

Delicate Construction

Delicate Construction

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

Picking Up Momentum

Picking Up Momentum

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

Simpler Castings

Simpler Castings

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

Somewhat of a Classic

Somewhat of a Classic

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 30.5 x 2cm, 26 x 31 x 3cm framed

A Distant Relative

A Distant Relative

SOLD oil on canvas board, 25.5 x 20 x 0.5cm, 26 x 21 x 3cm framed

Along the Bough

Along the Bough

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 20 x 2cm, 26 x 21 x 3cm framed

Aspects Unknown

Aspects Unknown

SOLD oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 2cm, 42 x 42 x 3cm framed

A Tribute

A Tribute

SOLD oil on canvas board, 25.5 x 20 x 0.5cm, 26 x 21 x 3cm framed

From Dormancy

From Dormancy

SOLD oil on canvas, 25.5 x 20 x 2cm, 26 x 21 x 3cm framed

On A Whim

On A Whim

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 30 x 26 x 3cm framed

More Popular

More Popular

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 30 x 26 x 3cm framed

The Golden Age

The Golden Age

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 30 x 26 x 3cm framed

An Allegory

An Allegory

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 26 x 3cm framed

Rarely Copied

Rarely Copied

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 30 x 26 x 3cm framed

Baptist Rose

Baptist Rose

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 31 x 26 x 3cm framed, £395

Further Clarification

Further Clarification

SOLD oil on plywood, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 31 x 26 x 3cm framed, £395

Known To Thrive

Known To Thrive

SOLD oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 2cm, 41 x 41 x 3cm framed, £525

This Or That

This Or That

SOLD oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x 1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

A Real Classic

A Real Classic

SOLD oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x 1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

En Route

En Route

SOLD oil on canvas board, 26 x 26 x 1cm, 27 x 27 x 3cm framed, £350

A Serious Question

A Serious Question

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 30 x 2cm, 31 x 31 x 3cm framed, £395

A Faraway Place

A Faraway Place

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 30 x 2cm, 31 x 31 x 3cm framed, £395

Pachinko

Pachinko

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, framed, £495

The End of May

The End of May

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 30 x 2cm, 31 x 31 x 3cm framed, £395

Quite Poignant

Quite Poignant

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 31 x 26 x 3cm framed, £375

Stolen Stem XXXII

Stolen Stem XXXII

SOLD oil on canvas, 50 x 40 x 2cm, 51 x 41 x 3cm framed, £595

Stolen Stem XXX

Stolen Stem XXX

SOLD oil on canvas, 50 x 40 x 2cm, 51 x 41 x 3cm framed, £595

A Crowd

A Crowd

SOLD oil on canvas, 30 x 25 x 2cm, 31 x 26 x 3cm framed, £350

In Solidarity

In Solidarity

SOLD oil on canvas, 36 x 31 x 3cm, £395

White House

White House

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, framed & signed, £495

Stolen Stem XIII

Stolen Stem XIII

SOLD oil on canvas 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, framed & signed, £495

Enchanted April

Enchanted April

SOLD oil on canvas, 32 x 27 x 2.5cm, framed, £350

Yellow Leaves

Yellow Leaves

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, £495

Leaning Gently

Leaning Gently

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41cm, £350

Daisy Chain

Daisy Chain

SOLD oil on canvas, 32 x 27 x 2.5cm, framed, £350

On Parade (I)

On Parade (I)

SOLD oil on canvas 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, framed & signed, £495

Sunbathers

Sunbathers

SOLD oil on canvas, 41x 41cm, £495

Lisianthus

Lisianthus

SOLD oil on canvas, 51 x 51 x 2.5cm, framed & signed, £595

Blossom

Blossom

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, £495

Forsythia

Forsythia

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, £495

Pear

Pear

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, £495

Stolen Stem V

Stolen Stem V

SOLD oil on canvas, 32 x 27 x 2.5cm, £325

Stolen Stem VI

Stolen Stem VI

SOLD oil on canvas, 32 x 27 x 2.5cm, £325

Ranunculus

Ranunculus

SOLD oil on board, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, £490

A Balancing Act

A Balancing Act

SOLD oil on board, 43 x 38 x 2cm, £490

Lemon Yellow

Lemon Yellow

SOLD oil on canvas, 41 x 41 x 2.5cm, £490

Billy Balls

Billy Balls

SOLD oil on board, 36 x 26 x 2.5cm, £490

Bess Harding is a self-taught artist and illustrator. After years of experimenting with a range of media and techniques, she was introduced to oil paints during an evening class at the end of 2016 and soon after realised she’d found her medium. Bess has been painting with oils ever since and has sold work in the UK and abroad. In a career highlight so far, she had a painting selected for the prestigious Columbia Threadneedle Art Prize 2018 at Mall Galleries in London. Having grown up by the coast in Dorset, the call of the sea has always been strong, hence a recent move from London to the seaside town of Worthing in West Sussex.

 

I’ve always had a yearning to paint pictures, but for many years tried without success to produce a painting I was happy with. But then I discovered oil paints and almost immediately felt that this was it – finally I was painting; this was painting. There is something so inarguable about oil on canvas, it comes with a weighty history that precludes questioning. I remember hearing Grayson Perry in his Reith Lectures, saying that “art can be lots of different things. It can be… you know what – between you and me – it can be beautiful.” Although this elicited a titter from the audience, on hearing it something clicked for me and I suddenly had a licence to concentrate on the quiet beauty of a simple object simply portrayed. I work from photographs of compositions that have sprung to mind, sometimes with a surprising sense of urgency. The perfectionist in me wants to see the finest detail of what I’m painting, and photographs give me this ability. I’ll start and end with the canvas right way up, but turn it round as I paint, to try and evade the brain’s trickery and to help me to see what’s really there rather than filling in the gaps subconsciously. I always feel a sense of wonder when light and shadow – created with as few brushstrokes as possible and under- rather than over-worked – combine to create something just realistic enough. I mix my colours from a fairly limited palette of six paints and white. The subjects of my paintings are sometimes people, but mostly things. I like the idea of taking an object out of its everyday environment, of choosing it, of giving it space to breathe and a little stage to sit quietly on so that it can be considered. I seek to capture the calm grace, stillness and self-possession of certain objects. And sometimes there might be an element of humour: a little interaction between objects; an unexpected juxtaposition; perhaps the viewer will forget my hand in the composition and wonder how those things got there and where they went next.

Bess’s work has been selected for the Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2019 and the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2020. She also had a painting longlisted for the BP Portrait Award 2020.

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