Meet Emerging Artists Aileen Fitzgerald and Jamie Beckwith

Aileen Fitzgerald

Inspired by her weekly outdoor adventures in the Texas Hill Country with her young daughter, Aileen Fitzgerald paints serene atmospheric landscapes.

“I like to tell people that I paint landscapes with a mood,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re a little recognizable but with a different dimension to them.”

A registered nurse for almost 10 years, Aileen picked up painting again at the start of the pandemic.

“When the pandemic hit, it took me back to my core self – who I’d always been,” she said. “Now, with painting – even part-time – I’m finally doing what I’d been suppressing for so long and it’s been incredible.”

Hillside Haze I

Her paintings, reminiscent of early Impressionist works, have been a healing process for her throughout the last two years, and giving those paintings to her customers has been just another way for her to connect with people.

“Taking hours and days to focus on a painting and sit with my emotions has been very therapeutic,” she said. “And when I give a piece of art to a customer, they’ll say things like, ‘This scene reminds me of my grandfather’s ranch or a special place I used to visit with my family.’ Seeing their reaction has been much more emotional than I thought.”

See more of Aileen’s work at @aileenfitzart.

Jamie Beckwith

When we asked interior designer Jamie Beckwith to describe some of her dimensional abstracts, one of the first words she used was “decay”.

“There’s that wabi-sabi Japanese technique of ‘broken is better,’ like the decay of an old building,” she said. “I like the imperfections of the works – the crumbling of paint – there’s a beauty in that to me.”

Her technique involves not just the creation of a work, but the destruction of it too.

“What I was painting felt beautiful, but there was something interesting in seeing what could be created by removing some of that paint,” she said. “Something entirely different emerges.”

Beckwith’s layer-rich paintings feature a mix of patterns and repetitive organic shapes, with shadows and graphic markings across for added dimension.

Faded

Beckwith says being an interior designer definitely has an influence on her work. “I try not to get stuck on trends,” she said. “But instead, get feedback from people, hear what they’re gravitating towards and understand what they’re looking for.”

Once she’s ready to tackle a new piece, scent and sound also play a role. She’ll turn on any type of music from classical to super heavy rap (“Remember, I have three teens in the house,” she said.), light her favorite Cire Trudon candle (“My favorite is the Ernesto scent.”) and get started. 

Beckwith, who’s been painting for as long as she can remember, only decided to put her work out into the world about two years ago.

“I asked myself, ‘Why am I nervous about sharing this when it brings me so much joy?’” she said. “With painting, it’s just me and my craft. It’s intimate and I can do it on my own. What’s there to be afraid of?”

See more of Jamie’s work at @jamiecbeckwith.

Plus, be on the lookout for more paintings by both Aileen Fitzgerald and Jamie Beckwith right here at Four Hands.

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