About
Born and raised in Western Australia Bec Bartell grew up with a love of animals and nature. Art has always been a part of her life in some way shape or form and after many years of practicing quilting and textile art she decided to teach herself to paint by using books, YouTube and a lot of trial and error. Bec’s work reflects her love of the natural world and combines it with her fascination for the paintings of the Baroque and Dutch Golden Age by combining natural light effects with moody dark backdrops or blazing golden metallic effects.
Since 2016 her reputation as an acrylic painter has grown, with her work in galleries both here in Australia and overseas and her pieces in many private collections around the world. Bec was the inaugural The Next Big Thing national prize from the Toowoomba Gallery in 2023 and has been a finalist in the Bluethumb Art Prize both in 2021 and 2022, along with being a finalist in many local Art Awards in Western Australia. In 2023 her work "Fairy Tree" was featured on the cover of Kate Morton’s novel Homecoming, in 6 different countries around the world. And then again in 2025 another one of her paintings "Golden Bloom" graced the cover of the french edition of Kate Mortons book L'enfant du lac.
Becs work depicts the duality of the human experience in the modern world. Through the use of acrylic paint on wood or canvas, she explores the stark contrast between the elements of dark and light and captures the beauty in both.
The variation of the soft delicate bird feathers against hard ceramic and the melody of colour in the native flora constrained by the bold artificial blues of the vessels that contain them, highlight the harmony of natural beauty against the hardness of the modern world. These elegantly simple compositions are illuminated as they emerge from the darkness and are a quintessential portrayal of the struggle to find balance and meaning in a complex world.
Ultimately, her work offers insight into the powerful metaphor of the light (or hope) that shines through the darkness.
