The Artists: Bella Martineau

Bella studied Decorative Arts at City & Guilds London, before joining a studio in Notting Hill Gate where she developed as a painter, doing still life commissions and murals.  The scale of the murals was always a challenge and now her work is usually on a much more manageable small and intimate scale.

With her love of mixing colour and of drawing line, marks and shapes Bella tries to capture what she sees in front of her, hoping to record a memory or emotion. ‘’Paintings can recreate experiences and feelings as freshly as if you were there again, just as music can so often take us straight back to a specific time, place or person.’’ She enjoys painting objects which can almost take on their own personality - they might represent characters on a stage, telling their own story.  Over the years, travels to Cornwall, Rajasthan and Venice have also inspired her work.