Featured Artist
Laura Bernardeschi

Laura Bernardeschi, also known as lauraartist68, is a multidisciplinary artist based in Newcastle upon Tyne after spending 11 years in London and Bristol. Laura is also known as a supporting actress, life model, blogger and photographer.

She started her career as a painter in 2017. While her work as a life model and actress was busy in the capital, she decided to try her skills in painting to defeat stress, loneliness and anxiety due to an abusive relationship. She was unsure what media to use and started with watercolours. But soon she realised that acrylic colours had more vivid colours and immediately she decided to use them on canvas or paper to reproduce flowers, nature and animals or her original abstracts.

Laura is originally from Italy so she has always been influenced by the great Italian masters in particular by the light of Caravaggio. During her life in London, thanks to her job as a life model in the best art centres of the capital, she became fascinated by the art of Van Gogh, Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Matisse, the Impressionists and David Hockney. In the last two years, she started to experiment with different styles and different media like reproducing the beauty of the spiritual world. Laura always thinks that art is the best therapy to fight mental issues and find the best light in your heart that allows you to connect with the spiritual world.

Image courtesy of Laura Bernardeschi

Image courtesy of Laura Bernardeschi

Laura is a great admirer of Pablo Picasso and for his influence, she thinks that art must always be connected with the social issues of our planet and an artist must leave a message to the world. As a survivor of emotional abuse, she gives voice to her women (most of the time a self-portrait of the artist) ready to fight for their self-respect and success like “a story to tell”. She does not forget the environment and climate change. She creates artworks connected to this subject trying to make people think about their mistakes that are destroying our planet. In the last year, she has experimented with new media like oil pastels, markers, fen pens and soft pastels without forgetting her bright colours. Pop art is her recent discovery used to represent strong women with different facial expressions and hair colour who are not scared to show their feelings and thoughts. She is very passionate about her work and has been selected for national and international art shows in the last three years.

“I had no idea I would have such an incredible passion for painting and drawing at 49 years old, but it was a positive discovery that made me realise how important it was to pursue this passion because nobody should ever let age stop them from doing what they enjoy and dream of. Using a variety of brushes and palette knives, I quickly realise that I like painting my abstracts with acrylic colours because I find them to be more vibrant than watercolours. My paintings were influenced by impressionists, Van Gogh, David Hockney, and Gustav Klimt, among other great masters. An artist must always try new things to enhance her creativity.”

more. www.lauraartist68.uk