Betsy Holmes
Capturing the Splendor of New England
Betsy Holmes is an outdoor and plein air oil painter dedicated to capturing the raw beauty of the New England landscape in every season and kind of weather. Her primary inspiration is the dynamic force of nature—the light, weather, and changing seasons—which she translates into her expressive paintings. Recognizing that modern life often distracts us from the beauty surrounding us, Betsy is driven to create art and nature journals that remind us of the splendor of our environment year-round. For her, painting is the joy of expressive marks and vibrant color, and her technique is influenced by great writers and poets who have also found the natural world a basis for their work.
Impressionism and Expressionism
The artist's distinctive style draws continual inspiration from the Impressionist and Expressionist painters of Europe, the US, and Canada. Readers familiar with the work of Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler, California artist William Wendt, and the Canadian "Group of Seven" will recognize their powerful approach to nature reflected in her art. Betsy holds a BFA and MFA in Painting and is a juried member of the New Hampshire Art Association, grounding her contemporary expressionism in a strong academic tradition.
Dedication to Education and Conservation
Beyond her artistic practice, Betsy Holmes is passionately committed to education and environmental stewardship. She is the retired Library Director at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and continues to teach art history and plein air painting as a volunteer at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNH, serving also as a volunteer docent at the Currier Museum of Art. When she is not painting or teaching, Betsy actively works in a variety of conservation initiatives, including serving on the Board of Trustees for the Piscataquog Land Conservancy. She is the past President of the Deering Lake Improvement Association, where she writes the newsletter and monitors for invasive species. She is fortunate to live on Deering Lake with her husband, Ralph, sharing her home with loons, herons, kingfishers, and bald eagles.
The Holmes Collection
Plein air, impressionist, sublime.
The act of creating a work of art outdoors is so different… so humbling… when compared to the studio experience. Being in the woods a painter is never alone; the birds are singing, the wind might be blowing, and you race with the sun to depict a moment that really can never truly be captured. The experience is sensual: the scents, the sounds, the views – I am constantly drawn back to it. While a painting can never fully represent the experience, my work stands as a souvenir of a moment of bliss.
