Bethanne’s plein air landscape paintings are known for their lush painterly quality. Loosely painted yet realist, they invite the viewer to experience each painting anew with every observation. This quality gives her paintings a timeless appeal. Using expressive brushwork and a finely honed sense of color, she creates a powerful image with both depth and beauty.
With a well defined style, Bethanne paints a diverse range of subjects. She fills her paintings with compelling skies and calming landscapes. Her paintings capture scenes of brilliant snow, rich farmlands, and the varied shores of the East and West coasts. Landscapes are her passion and she travels far and wide for subjects.
“I love painting the landscape en plein air. In the outdoors you can incorporate not only what you see, but the sounds and the smells of the landscape. All of this lets me convey the sense of wonder that I feel at the subject.” Bethanne has painted in blizzards in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, on steep cliffs in Monhegan Island, Maine, in strong gales along the rugged northern California coast and the sanctuary of summer and winter on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Potomac River in Virginia, and the east end of Long Island, NY. “I love being in the outdoors painting. It rejuvenates me in a way painting in the studio can’t.”
From the time Bethanne began painting professionally and entering competitions, she has been earning recognition for her work. Most recently, she received "Award of Excellence" at the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters 2012 National Show, Grand Teton National Park, "Dick Bell Bookmaven Award of Excellance"at the American Impressionist Society National Show 2010, “People’s Choice Award”, at the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York, New York exhibition and “Best Pastoral”, at the Plein Air-Easton 2005 and 2006 Invitational Paintouts, Easton, Maryland. She also received “Honorable Mention” at the Eleventh and Fifteenth Annual Invitational Paintouts, Carmel, California, and “Best Traditional Painting,” 107th and 113thAnnual Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Open Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York City. She was also honored as “an artist to watch” by Southwest Art Magazine February 2006 landscape addition and served two terms as President of American Women Artists.
Bethanne has also succeeded commercially with her wide range of plein air paintings. Her landscapes appear in both public and private collections in Europe and the United States. “I am passionate about painting, admittedly to the point of obsession on occasion.” Her family supports and embraces her passion. “My husband was the first one to encourage me. Before we were married, he saw my work and pushed me to pursue art in college, everything else is history.”
Bethanne lives in Historic Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia and East Hampton, NY with her husband and two daughters. “We love to travel together, which includes skiing in Park City, Utah every winter and exploring beautiful Assateague Island seashore in Virginia, where the wild ponies run every summer. I always manage to paint whenever we travel. My family understands and supports me, though I think they shake their heads at me sometimes.” Bethanne also travels to France every year where she paints and conducts workshops.
