Nathalie Beauvillain Scott’s Faces of Guildford

Karen Neville

Activities & Events, Camberley, Bagshot & Lightwater, Chobham, Egham, Farnham, Godalming, Guildford, Haslemere, Old Woking, Round and About, Surrey, The Clandons

How many of Nathalie Beauvillain Scott’s detailed life-like portraits will you recognise in her Faces of Guildford exhibition?

You may well recognise the people featured in the work of French artist Nathalie Beauvillain Scott currently on display at venues in Guildford.

She started the Faces of Guildford project five years ago and it is now coming to an end with an exhibition which runs through to January in the town centre. It includes 13 oil portrait paintings and 13 pencil drawings of Guildfordians who have had an impact on the community in the past and the present. Nathalie has had a close relationship at some point with most of the people included in her exhibition.

Nathalie was born in Fontainebleau, a little town near Paris and as a child always had an interest in drawing. At Secondary school she specialised in Art and History of Art.

In 1989 she became involved with a group of artists based in Weybridge. She was then creating deltaic paintings on a huge scale based on the shape of the delta. She then went back to Paris to study art for a few years.

In 1993 she returned to the UK where she met Tony Scott, founder of Guilfest. While bringing up their three children, Nathalie worked as a mural artist getting commissions all around Surrey in schools, private houses, bars and hospitals.

Her interest in portraiture started in 2003 and she has received many portrait commissions ever since.

She specialises in highly detailed portrait paintings of everyday life. Her portraits of everyone from children to celebrities and royals are recognised for their incredible likeness. Nathalie paints almost exclusively in oil on canvas. The time-consuming process begins with a detailed drawing and she then applies a succession of thin layers of oil. Some of her portraits will have a narrative content telling a story whereas others will be more about capturing the personalities of her sitters at a specific time in their lives. She recently started to draw portraits in pencil on paper.

Her meticulous approach to portraiture resulted in her work being displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015 as part of the BP Portrait Award.

For the last few years, along with six other local artists, Nathalie has been running an artist-run exhibition space, GU ART currently in White Lion Walk Guildford.

You can view Nathalie’s incredible work at New House Art and Space Gallery, Fays Passage until November 30th, GU ART, White Lion Walk, December 4th-11th, St Mary’s Church, Quarry Street, January 4th-12th and Growlers & Cans, Chertsey Street, January 15th-22nd.

How many of Nathalie Beauvillain Scott’s detailed life-like portraits will you recognise in her Faces of Guildford exhibition?

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