The landscape surrounding Bee Doughty-Pratt's home which is perched high on the banks of the Otaki River would inspire any artist and provides a marvellous setting for a studio. "Moving here and finally letting go of a busy business life, allowed me to start painting seriously. The remoteness gave me the space to explore a different side of me, a creative side which is growing every day."

Although Bee has had a lifelong interest in art, the route to becoming a full-time artist has been a long one. From college art classes to selling a few paintings from a gallery in Oriental Parade, Wellington, this early interest was set aside in favour of a career in the computer industry. She became an art collector in a modest way, and managed to incorporate art into her business life, occasionally breaking out of her corporate role to lead workshops for 'people on The Terrace', where great fun was had, escaping into self-expression by painting and making sculpture. "These culminated in light-hearted exhibitions of the artworks produced by the teams of techos and managers from companies such as Telecom, Unisys and Microsoft, almost all of whom were stunned to find that they had any art in them at all !" 

It wasn't until four years ago that Bee finally decided it was time to take the lid off her own creative talents. She started by taking part in workshops led by artist Jane Kellahan and spending time with artist tutor Susan Knaap. "I knew I had it in me to paint but needed a catalyst and wanted to learn from artists whose work I admired. It felt like Jane and Susan pushed me out into the open where I had to deliver."   From those first tentative steps, Bee has quickly grown into an artist whose work is in demand from galleries and buyers throughout the country.

''My studio is a former garden shed now dedicated to artistic pursuits. It has good light, plenty of bench-space and at least three easels in residence at any one time. When the roller door is up, it has magnificent river views right down the Otaki Forks river gorge. It is freezing in winter but this doesn't stop me.  I prefer to work on large canvases, at least 1m x 1m and often larger - frequently working on several at once, coming back to each one repeatedly to continue the layers over a period of weeks. Mostly these are abstract landscapes. I try to capture the feeling or emotion behind a landscape rather than actual detail. Sometimes something will trigger me to produce a smaller work which will almost always be completed in one or two quick workshops. Every day is an experiment, every day there is something new to try, some new concept to paint - or sometimes one of last week's efforts to paint over. Every day painting is a pleasure - I even like cleaning my brushes!"

Bee's exhibits regularly and her work is displayed for sale on this website and in a number of galleries throughout the North Island of New Zealand.

Check out the Exhibitions page for dates and venues of up and coming Exhibitions and Events.

Check out the News & Views page for commentary on past Exhibitions and Events.