Con­tact Details E-​mail: This email address is being pro­tected from spam­bots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Address: 91 Parenga Road RD 2 Otaki 5582 New Zealand Phone: +64 6 364 3911 Mobile: +64 27 664 3911

The land­scape sur­round­ing Bee Doughty-Pratt’s home, which is perched high on the banks of the Otaki River, an hour north of Welling­ton, would inspire any artist and pro­vides a mar­velous set­ting for a studio.

Bee paints on the prop­erty full-​time - pro­duc­ing vibrant works in demand from gal­leries and buy­ers through­out the coun­try. “Mostly I paint abstract seascapes and land­scapes in oils and inks - on large can­vases usu­ally at least 1 metre square and often much larger. I work on sev­eral can­vases at once, com­ing back to each one repeat­edly to con­tinue the lay­ers over a period of weeks until each is complete.”

“Water in some form or other fea­tures in vir­tu­ally every can­vas I paint … river water, lake water, sea water - all abstract water. I am also all about colour. I love colour and try to use it to cap­ture the feel­ings or emo­tions behind these ‘scapes - the essence of the seascapes and land­scapes, real or imag­ined, rather than the actual detail.”

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 in the Man­awatu to sell­ing her early paint­ings in Welling­ton city, this inter­est was set aside in favour of a career in the com­puter indus­try. “Finally sell­ing my busi­ness allowed me to refo­cus on paint­ing. My stu­dio is a re-​vamped gar­den shed with plenty of light, a lot of white wall-​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 - a wild and won­der­ful land­scape. It is freez­ing in my shed in win­ter but this doesn’t stop me. 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 New Zealand. Check out the Exhi­bi­tion News page for dates and venues of up and com­ing exhi­bi­tions and events. Bee also accepts com­mis­sions for larger works.