Henrietta Beightol grew up in a family of artists going back to her great-grandfather, William Flechsing, who traveled across the United States in a covered wagon selling his artwork along the way. Before she had learned to read, Henrietta learned to paint at the hands of her grandmother, Henrietta Flechsing Badraun, who was one of many in the family who followed in Williams Flechsing’s footsteps.
Through the years, Henrietta worked in various art forms including pottery, acrylic painting, and oil enhanced portrait photographs, but she always goes back to her first love: oil painting. She is highly influenced by the Impressionists, namely Van Gogh but is also influenced by the great Dutch masters of the 17th Century. The play of light and color are a continued theme in her artwork.
Each painting takes days or weeks to complete as she applies layers of paint onto the canvas, one layer drying before she continues with the next phase, often times working on multiple paintings at the same time.
Henrietta received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from The College of William and Mary and worked on her Masters of Fine Arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University.
View Henrietta Beightol’s collection at the Stravitz Gallery.