Bliss Coulthard

Bliss Coultard is an artist and illustrator from North London who has very recently won The Royal Watercolour Society’s Young Artist Of The Year Award.

Bliss had always been fascinated by portraiture – how it can capture an inner essence, an emotional connection. Her work has often been autobiographical – dipping into her own changing experience of the world to capture a moment of sadness, anger, despair, happiness.

Bliss mainly works with watercolour to create surreal portraits and distorted figures. While some of her paintings are based on found photographs of family and friends, others are imagined.

Bliss chooses images which convey an emotion or personality, usually beginning with pencil drawings she then brings them to life with paint. She loves the fluidity of watercolours, the spontaneity, the opportunities it gives for mood and emotion.