First Peek, My Solo Show in Boston, at Chase Young Gallery

The show dates are April 15, 2024 through May 30, 2024, where I’ll be showcasing some of my playful couples paintings. I am working on smaller interiors of couples and figures – I get to create furniture and rooms and even give the people amazing works of art – a Courbet or Rouault, a Kandinsky, or any dog I want them to have, a harp, certain windows or a balcony – anything. I get to make up whatever I want and give that to them.

We Have Time (for you to do a little striptease for me) Before We Have to Go Out Tonight, 32″x32″, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Available at Betsy Podlach Online

Capturing Inner Experiences

The intimacy that I try to demonstrate in my playful couples paintings are the inner experiences of my subjects. This can include expressions of love, longing, desire, vulnerability, or introspection. Many of my works explore the dynamics between individuals, whether they be lovers, family members, friends, or even strangers. I delve into the complexities of human relationships, often involving subtle or suggestive elements, emphasizing the beauty of the human form.

Personalized Painting Commissions

I love to do personalized painting commissions and many that I get are portraits of loved ones by another loved, or portraits of a pet, which I love getting too. Often a collector will see a painting that has been sold or see many paintings and just want a piece that they imagine from my work, and we have a wonderful time together creating a great, original piece. Please reach out to me if you are interested in discussing a commission.

Private Commission, by Betsy Podlach. Commission for Francesco Rossi, Creative Director of Marni Inc, Milan, Italy

Challenge and Excitement of Commissioned Paintings

Creating personalized painting commissions is an exciting challenge for me because it allows me to work within certain parameters or explore new subject matter and styles to meet the client’s expectations. I also enjoy the opportunity to connect with new people and from different walks of life. As a figurative artist, I like the collaborative relationship with my clients, which can be creatively fulfilling. This collaboration often involves ongoing communication, feedback, and a shared creative process.

Romance, 46″x46″, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Commission for Couple in Love, 2023

Floral Paintings Available in Nantucket Gallery

The cold weather is here in the north east, but in Nantucket there will still be visitors and those who come for Christmas and the holidays. I have been represented in Nantucket for 30 years. 28 years with Doerte Neudert at the Art Cabinet, and now with East End Gallery on Nantucket. I’m showing some of my paintings on this page that Karen Perine has in her Gallery. Reach out to Karen and grab some summer floral paintings Nantucket MA.

Hydrangea #3, 20″x20″, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Available at East End Gallery

A State of Love

I believe that we are here, alive, to be ourselves, to gain wisdom, to give love, to not miss a moment of life if we can help it, that suffering is a given, but the meaning is built into life. I LOVE life, I love being alive. I love nature, animals, people, shapes, colors, music, dance, Shakespeare, great writing, sex, the human body, biology, poetry, cars, dogs, and the ocean.

Floral #4 (details), 28″x28″, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Available at East End Gallery

Sexuality of The Woman

Format offers the chance to create a personal concept and poetry of space; the paint, the developing image, and a light coming from within the painting create an image most often of a woman with a physicality, sexuality, and an inner world of profound thought, emotion, and intelligence. I want the painting itself to be recognized for the object it is so that the moment depicted in the painting becomes permanent, and the painting can transform the experience of time.

Interior with Nude, Puppy and Bunny, 18″x24″, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Available at Frederick Homes & Company Gallery

Sensuality & Nudity

The depiction of the female body, whether nude or not, has been a recurring theme in my work. For me, nudity is a powerful way to offer meaning to the sensuality of the female form. Some of my figurative paintings draw on mythology and religious themes to explore the female spirit. Goddesses and female saints have been central figures in art history, representing various aspects of femininity, including motherhood, wisdom, and sensuality. The expression of female sexuality is an ever evolving topic for me.

Paintings Reflecting Fragility of Beauty

I am a figurative painter dedicated to eliciting and depicting the complex and conflicting array of human emotions. We often don’t understand what an emotion means, what we are feeling for certain or even why we are feeling what we are. The more experience I have the less I know with certainty every aspect of my own emotions or my reaction to life’s experiences in full. Instead I find emotions and life itself to be in part mysterious and in part an ongoing discovery. Certainty and perfection do not happen in real life, but deep experience and emotional connections and responses do. I tend to also explore the spiritual and existential aspects of life through art, by challenging how we see and connect to others and to all kinds of art.

Woman in Black Hat, 28″x28″, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Available at Frederick Homes & Company Gallery

Fleeting Impressions

With most of my paintings I like to delve into the transient nature of beauty and the impermanence of life. This sentiment is portrayed using delicate and ephemeral subjects, such as Woman in Black Hat, Woman with Muff, or Woman with Hat of Roses. With my use of light and shadow, and deep color contrast, I invite viewers to contemplate these permanently fixed moments of female beauty and the stories they hold.

Emotional Connection in My Paintings

The limits of the two dimensional format of painting opens an infinite opportunity for creative invention and experiments with form, space, light, and color. My work is a celebration of intimacy and the beauty found in everyday moments. By creating an emotional connection in my paintings, I aim to capture the essence of real life, infusing it with vibrant colors and captivating shapes that transport the viewer into the realm beyond what is obvious. The scenes I depict are outside the consciousness of the subjects, allowing viewers to witness genuine moments of intimacy and be reminded of their magical nature.

Woman Bunny Cardinal, oil on linen, by Betsy Podlach. Available at Frederick Homes & Company Gallery

Beauty of Human Interaction

I want my paintings to connect on an emotional level through the experience of a very physical presence both as an object and the story of its subject. I like to think of my paintings as breathing life into moments we often overlook, by capturing the beauty of human interaction with hints of intimacy, comedy, tragedy, and transformation. I often discover aspects of my own passage in this multi-faceted life, by allowing each brush stroke to evoke past, present, and future time lapses to converge into a complete painting.