News Portrait and Resident Artist Danielle Hewlett

As a portrait artist, my work explores concepts of identity. The psychology and behaviour of people and how it shines through the surface of their outward appearance is something that has always enthralled me and is the centre of my work to date. I’m always looking for the essence of subjects, their identity, or at least a part of it. It is an authentic aspect of their being that I’m trying to capture and portray and through that, telling a touching and heartfelt story.

I come from Johannesburg, South Africa where there is a board spectrum of people from various backgrounds in life. Many artworks are portraying the stark contrasts to the western first worlds and the hardships faced in South Africa. I prefer to highlight the more subtle aspects of emotion and mind that are much closer to home for all of us around the world. I have a strong attraction towards topics of women and their careers, especially in art, but really, I just love people. I use real-life subjects as much as possible and work with whatever comes through.

I’ve recently moved to Edinburgh, Scotland where I have new subject matter to work with. Not just Scottish people, but the wider European community in general. Of course, as these things go, it took some time to get settled into the country and my new studio at Edinburgh Palette. Just as I was getting into the swing of things, we hit lockdown and it’s been quite challenging with my 5-year-old daughter around. I have a limited amount of space to work with at the moment and I’m working on smaller pieces, which I’m challenging myself to produce one a day. I’m also using this time to refine ideas and explore new topics and techniques.

www.daniellehewlett.co.za

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