Betty Christie

Strawberry Thief

Feather. Pebble. Seapink. Shell

Old Sweet Chestnut, Lagan Valley, Winter.

Winter Woods, Lagan Valley.

Betty Christie graduated with First Class Honours in Art and Design in 1975, followed by an Art Teachers’ Diploma in 1976.Her work is influenced by her rural upbringing in the Limavady countryside, her love of the natural world, and the colours, shapes, patterns and textures of natural forms such as pebbles, feathers, shells, lichens, old nests, etc, which she finds on her many walks with her dog in the beautiful Lagan Valley and beyond.

Her own cottage garden on the outskirts of Belfast is a constant inspiration, filled with wild birds and birdsong, and visited by foxes and their cubs, and even the occasional badger.

She works in pastel, graphite and coloured pencil, and also watercolour, with some recent work in egg tempera. She exhibits annually with the Pastel Society of Ireland, the Watercolour Society of Ireland, and the Association of Art and Design Education, as well as with the Irish Society of Botanical Artists. In addition, her work has been selected for many other exhibitions, including, more recently, for the Royal Ulster Academy annual exhibitions of 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Recent awards include the Evans Award for Botanical Art from the Watercolour Society of Ireland, and the Evans Award from the Pastel Society of Ireland, both 2023.

Her work is held in the collections of Enterprise Ireland, the Watercolour Society of Ireland, Lisburn and Castlereagh Borough Council, Limerick University, the South Eastern Trust and the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

She also produces cards from images of her work.