Louise Bird is a British figurative oil artist whose emotionally resonant portraits explore themes of identity, caregiving, and personal transformation. Working primarily in oil, her recent work turns inward. She uses the body, often her own, as a vessel to express complex emotional states.

Now based in Ilfracombe, Devon, Louise paints from the shifting ground of a life in transition. Her two children have recently left home. At the same time, her role as carer for her mother, who lives with Alzheimer’s, continues to evolve. This duality, independence and fragility, defines the emotional terrain of her work. Her paintings are not simply about likeness but about feeling: grief, tenderness, frustration, reflection. She often paints hands, feet, or heads, not as literal self-portraits but as symbols of inner life.

This body of work began with a 2024 Arts Council England grant. It allowed her to create a new collection responding directly to caregiving and change. Since then, she has exhibited at the London Art Biennale, the Green & Stone Summer Exhibition, the RBSA Portrait Prize Exhibition, and the Women in Art Fair at Mall Galleries. She was a finalist in the Women in Art Prize (2023 and 2024), and her work was shortlisted by the Royal Society of Artists and the South West Academy of Fine Art. A six-page profile in Art Etc. magazine (2024) marked a turning point in her growing reputation.

Louise trained in Visual Communications at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, specialising in illustration. She spent over a decade as a commercial illustrator before moving into commissioned portraiture. Only recently has she committed fully to creating her own raw and personal work.

Her influences include Jenny Saville, Lucian Freud, Giacometti, and John Singer Sargent. From Saville, she draws on unflinching intimacy and a focus on the body. Freud’s psychological depth and Sargent’s technical elegance also leave a clear imprint. Her paintings balance realism with expressive brushwork.

As a British figurative oil artist, Louise Bird continues to develop a compelling practice rooted in emotional honesty and realism.

As a painter of people I am concerned with portraying emotions as well as likenesses. My recent work has focussed on painting myself, not self portraits as such but using my art as a cathartic tool to express my emotions and thoughts. As well as my head I have used different parts of my body: hands and feet to portray myself.

Recently, my children, now grown, have left home to make their own way in the World. At the same time, I am a joint carer of my mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease over five years ago. As my children have become adults my mother has regressed into a childlike state. Many unexpected emotions have arisen as a result of this situation and period in my life. I have used my creativity to express these feelings on canvas and paper. My hope is that the viewer will have a response and engage with my paintings, recognising similar emotions.

I mainly use oil and canvas, I also like charcoal and find it a very expressive and immediate medium. My work is largely realistic although recently I have been experimenting with colour; changing skin tones, resulting in a more surreal look to the image again reflecting different emotions.

I have been a portrait artist for a number of years, but it’s only recently that I have created my own collection of works. After winning an Arts Council Grant I was allowed the freedom to paint a collection based on my response to my situation. I am now fully engaged with my practice, keen to continue painting and showing my work.