Liza de Bruin was born in Vereeniging, South Africa in 1983. She is a self-taught artist renowned for her large-scale portrait paintings.

 

Liza had always been interested in art and showed a natural talent from a young age. Her parents and grandmother played a big role in exposing her to art classes and artists. In 1999 Liza attended boarding school at Potchefstroom Gimnasium, after their esteemed art teacher Connie Pretorius, came highly recommended. But painting really only started in 2001 when she befriended a local artist in Bothaville who gave her an intro to oil paint and passed on a few old tubes of paint, brushes and a piece of canvas paper. Her passion for painting people made a tremendous impression on Liza.

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After finishing school she went on to be an Au Pair in America where she worked for two families, one in New York and the other in Florida. Here she was inspired by her second host family’s passion for photography and was introduced to the fascinating detail and beauty of what a macro lens could capture. With the combination of childcare and photography, she took endless photos of the children, which inspired her aspiration for photo-realistic portrait paintings.

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Liza had her first exhibition in 2006 where she was featured at the Nouveau Arts Exhibition held at The Snowflake, Potchefstroom. She was also featured at The Contemporary Arts Exhibition in Brooklyn, Pretoria in 2010 and has been part of numerous group exhibitions since.

 

Liza completed her B.A. in graphic design in 2007 at the North-West University, Potchefstroom. It was during this time that she took part in the University’s annual talent competition and was awarded the overall winner 4 years consecutively.

 

Today Liza is based in Southampton, UK. Her process as an artist today remains methodical, adaptive and inventive.

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Liza undertakes original projects for exhibitions mainly as well as portrait commissions working from photos at her studio in Southampton. Please feel free to contact her if you are considering a portrait or have any questions about the commissioning process.