Sunny Bell’s Evandale exhibition aimed to capture the whole gamut of human emotion.
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Featuring a collection of 10 acrylic on canvas portraits, the works focus on unpacking human emotion on a subject by subject basis.
Bell’s exhibition, held at Preservation and Artworks on Russell Street, will run until the end of the month.
“I try and capture the emotion that best evokes the personality for that person,” she said.
“I did one recently called Despair and it was a woman who had recently lost their husband.
“There was another one I did of a woman who found out her husband was cheating on her and wanted to leave her, so it was called I wish I hadn’t known.”
The subjects for the exhibition are mostly friends of Bell or people she has recently met.
She said it was essential to make an emotional connection with all of her subjects to intimately portray their inner-most feelings.
She explained that studio sessions sometimes amounted to a type of therapy for some.
“People find it really satisfying – it’s almost like whatever they’re going through gets to be heard, validated and put out there,” she said.
“There’s also a trust involved.
“When I paint people I always make sure they’re OK with what I name it and they’re OK using their first name on it.”
Bell started painting only six years ago, after discovering a passion for the craft when painting with her four-year-old.
Despite having no artistic background, or formal training, the former journalist soon fell in love with the craft and devoted all her spare time to it.
“It never occurred to me it’s something I could do,” she said.
“I thought I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body and I never did art at school or anything like that.
“It came out of nowhere, then I was hooked and I couldn’t stop painting after that.”
Preservation and Artworks is open from Friday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm.