‘Hummingbird – Spread your wings and fly high in the colourful sky’
Liquid Watercolour & Oil Paint on Duck Canvas
12cm x 12cm

Tebbs Contemporary Gallery

Canvas Project



‘Sit and Stare’

I sit and stare,
Into the trees,
And the sky above.

I follow the rhythms,
Of the bird’s lullaby’s,
Sat on the branches,
Singing to the skies.

Their beautiful tunes,
Release in me,
A poetic flow,
A creativity.

I follow the birds,
As they soar in the sky,
They glide through the clouds,
Becoming one with the wind.

Their poetic motion,
Flows like a stream,
Watching them silently,
Releases an impenetrable serene.

Deep in my core,
Sparks creativity,
The birds,
Their songs,
And Mother-Nature,
Inspire so much imagination in me.

Eleni NeoBenyon
2021

My Art Journey

I am a 35-year-old, female British Born Greek Cypriot, currently based on the Wirral.
I completed a Degree with Honours, in Fine Art in 2009, at The University of Chester.
Coming from a family with a catering background and having worked in catering since I helped in the family business and then part time while I was studying in college and for my degree, I continued to work my way up in the catering business, eventually becoming head chef and even setting up my own mobile catering business. Which I later sold as an established business ‘CHEF-IN-A-BOX’.

Although I have always loved art since a very young age, with cheffing such a demanding role my art career only began when I left catering in my early 30’s, stemming from a purely private therapy which helped me through difficult times in my life, due long term health conditions Hemicrania Continua and Fibromyalgia.
After much persuasion from friends and family I finally ‘put it out there’ around September of 2019 and so far, I have been overwhelmed by how well it has been received. I’ve truly found my passion, my outlet and therapy. Art gives me immense joy and purpose.

I believe I have now developed my own recognisable style, I love animals and nature, so they are predominately, but not solely, the subject my work (elephants, giraffes, hummingbirds, ducks, cats, dogs, flowers etc). I adore intense, vibrant colours and love to create majestic, fantastical environments for the subjects of the pieces to morph in and out, pop out or disappear into.

‘Magenta blossom - 24 CT gold leaf’
40cm x 40cm
2020
Oil on canvas with 24 CT gold leaf

This piece is one of the first oil paintings which I would consider, now, to be in my recognisable style of painting. I have developed this unique style over the last few years as I had never worked with oils before 2019 and found myself obsessed with mastering my own individual technique with the notoriously tricky medium. During my research I fell in love with and was heavily influenced by the incredible works of British artist Katy Jade Dobson, also, although the complete antithesis the master that is Mr Bob Ross taught me a great deal in terms of techniques using oil paints, and finally my ultimate inspiration from childhood, (after seeing his seascapes in Galleries, I was genuinely blown away) J.M. William Turner, I have been influenced by his work ever since I first saw one. The use of colours, the emotions, expressiveness within his work, the movement, the ambiguous forms of ships and trains and clouds and smoke. You just get lost within the realms and depths of the paintings, that is what I aspire towards. I believe this piece shows the turning point for my painting technique. From this painting on, I show my own unique, contemporary expressionist style of intense, vibrant colours, majestic or fantastical backgrounds, vibrant colour pallets blurred together, merging but still intense and eye-catching drawing the viewer into the depths and the details within the paintings.

By 2021 I have regularly exhibited and sold artwork at local Art Galleries including Technically Brilliant Art Gallery and Chris Beesley’s Studio Gallery in Warrington. I have now sold work locally and around all around the country including Scotland, London, and Harrogate. Then in March 2021 I had my first international sale with
‘The Disappearing Herd - 7 - with gold leaf’
(30inch x 24inch/76cm x 61cm)
Oil on canvas with 24 CT gold leaf,
going to its new home to L.A. in America!

I have just entered two paintings into the VAO – Visual Art Open - UK & International Emerging Artist Award 2021.
‘David Bowie - Drip Portrait’
(30inch x 24inch/76cm x 61cm)
Oil on canvas
And
‘The Magnificent Elephant – No 2-with gold leaf’
(30inch x 24inch/76cm x 61cm)
Oil on canvas with 24ct Gold Leaf
Vulnerable to extinction (VE)

Additionally, I have just exhibited
‘Pensive Western Gorilla’
Oil on canvas
(H60cm x W40cm)
Western Gorilla Classification - Critically Endangered (CR)

In The Virtual Artists Exhibition – ‘Summer Arts Festival’
12th -26th June 2021
Which, ‘right now is THE ONLY fully immersive and interactive virtual art gallery in the world. We work in partnership with Robots of London, which is the leading company in Europe specialising in Virtual Reality and robotics.’
I chose to enter this piece as it is a perfect representation of my style of painting as a whole. It contains my most distinctive stylistic elements - the focal point of the piece – the ‘Pensive Western Gorilla’ with its attention to detail shows the element of realism, which is often incorporated with my work, as well as its prevalence as a favourite subject matter of mine, animals are more often than not, in some way featured within my paintings. The background, in terms of its intense, vibrant multicoloured pallet which the gorilla is disappearing into, forms the majestic hazy depths to his colourful jungle. This use of vibrant colours and the creation of the majestic, hazy depths to the background, with the subject disappearing into/out of, popping out of, is an atmosphere I aim to create in the majority of my work.

Among a wide range of artwork, I have created a small collection called ‘Our Endangered World’. As an animal lover and artist, I found myself embarking on a journey, in which it was my mission to not only attempt to create beautiful artwork but to capture the majestic beauty of animals who live among us in this ever-changing world.
Furthermore, the desire I had was not only to capture their beauty but also their vulnerability, as well as their strength. I had hoped to create some awareness through my artwork, of some of the incredible animals we share this world with who are classified as vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered. I felt a sense of responsibility to raise awareness and remind people of the beauty of our animals, before any more of them become extinct from the world we know and continue to destroy.

I create Oil Paintings, Watercolour Paintings, Acrylic Paintings, some photography, digital editing and some mixed media paintings.
I also take on commissioned work and from September 2019 to date, I have created 22 Commissioned pieces in total. At the moment, (May 2021) I am also working on a further 2 commissions.
I’m also designing business logos, so far I've designed all of my own logos, business cards, advertisement posters, as well as an independent food business ‘A-TASTE-OF-HOME' and an independent soap, lip balms, shower gels, doggy friendly shower gels and SLS free products ‘AromaSoaps’ and have another logo to design for another client.
It is such a unique experience, and a privilege to be trusted with extracting a thought from someone’s mind, creating it in a physical form in this reality and then presenting it back to them-Incredible when you really think about it!

I have had an incredible opportunity to exhibit ‘Hummingbird 1’ Liquid Watercolour on A3 watercolour Paper with Clear Gloss Varnish Seal and Finishing Sprays, Mounted and framed in A2 size frame in M.A.D.S. Milano Contemporary Art Gallery, Milan, Italy, in the ‘Phìlo-Poèm’ Exhibition.

My ‘Fantasy Land’ series is currently being featured in the Contemporary Art Curator Online Magazine with images of 5 artworks and a biography along with links to my website and social media platforms, I feel so enormously proud and grateful to be published in such a wonderful and well established Global Online Art Magazine.

My next challenge was to develop my ‘Fantasy Land’ watercolour series onto large scale canvases using alcohol inks. I endeavoured to incorporate different sub-themes within the series including:
‘Hummingbirds’
‘Elephants’
‘Giraffes’
‘Floral’
‘Underwater’
And potentially many more as I explore the project.

In doing so, I came across epoxy resin as I had seen it on an art print in a gallery I was visiting in Chester. I thought it would be a fantastic finish over the alcohol ink canvases and began to explore this. During exploration I was fascinated with the process and effects of Epoxy Resin Art and realised the potential limitless possibilities of epoxy resin, as it had been so incredible over the alcohol inks and wanted to see what else o could create with it. This experimentation led me to something I never in a million years thought I would be doing…Epoxy Resin Art - The Jewellery Collection - These beautiful, unique one of a kind pieces are more than jewellery to me, they are miniature artworks, which people can wear proudly to show off their individuality and uniqueness. They are such a labour of love, they take approximately 5 days to make. From mixing up the epoxy resin, colouring, creating the miniature artworks, setting, sanding, polishing and then finally making them into jewellery. Each piece is entirely handmade, lovingly crafted and polished, with sterling silver stamped 925 earring hooks, black waxed necklaces and sterling silver stamped 925 necklace chains for high quality jewellery to wear proudly, expressing your individuality, uniqueness and creative style. My earring collection are ‘Oddly Matching’ representing our individuality, we are all completely unique but complement each other wonderfully in relationships…of love, life, friendship and work collaborations. All completely one-of-a-kind, like us, but beautifully complimentary of each other. To mirror how we as human beings are all so very different, no two souls are the same, we can not be replicated, yet work and live in perfect alignment with one another, our differences complimenting each other’s. I hope my Jewellery Collection speaks to those who are different, quirky, unique, one of a kind and perfectly imperfect beautiful souls who do not ‘fit it’ with the ‘norm’. This is for all of us, the ‘hippies’, ‘oddballs’, ‘black sheep’ and ‘outcasts’, all of the wonderfully unique individuals who embrace their true self, regardless of what others may think. Be you, you are more than enough just as you are, you are a rare gem and stunning! When you wear a piece from my collection, I want you to feel transformational, to feel completely self assured that you embrace all of your individuality, to feel stunning, unique and special…just like the pice you are wearing, you should feel like you are a rare one of a kind piece of art, because my friend…you absolutely are!

Launching in my website shop at https://www.neosdesigns-art.com/
…watch this space!
#neosdesignsart

Visit my Online Gallery of Artwork at:
www.neosdesigns-art.com

Find all my Social media/website & Online Shop links here:
https://linktr.ee/NeosDesigns

Some of my artwork is purely for therapeutic benefit, for me. It was not meant to be seen, it just allowed me to express my deepest emotions and experiences-which I normally keep inside and rarely reveal to anyone. It occurred to me, however, that if I’d known others felt the way I do, thought the things I do, or even simply to see that art can be a voice for those of us who struggle to verbalise our thoughts and emotions..it could be a really wonderful thing to someone struggling like I was before I unintentionally discovered the therapeutic benefits of Art. More than that, my art is my voice when I thought I didn’t have one, my escape when I need one and my joy anytime I like. That’s why I share my personal artwork, because if it can help me, then it can help others too. Putting my confessional artwork out there, bearing my soul to the world, showing my raw honest truth is a scary thing..but if it resonates with just one person and helps them to find a way to cope with their struggles, then it was worth it.

‘If I Was Your Pet…’
A3 size Original Watercolour
Poetry Painting



‘If I Was Your Pet’


‘If I was your
Pet…
You would do the kindest
thing…
Put me to sleep…
Let me rest…
Take away my suffering
and pain…
If I was your
Pet…’

Eleni NeoBenyon
2021