About Benita

Benita Stoney is an award-winning Irish portrait artist. She works from her own selection and by commission.

25 July 2018: Benita is one of the artists selected for the Women on Walls @ RCSI commission. The eight portraits to be unveiled in 2019 will hang in the Board Room of RCSI’s historic building on St Stephen’s Green.

For more information click on the following links:

Curriculum Vitae

Exhibitions

2017-18 Hennessy Prize shortlist, National Gallery, Dublin
2017 Mystery Portraits Gala, National Portrait Gallery, London
2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Annual Exhibition
2016 'Revisions', Ballina Arts Centre
2014 ‘Pathways’, NewportFive, Leinster Gallery, Dublin
2014 ‘Icarus’, Clifden Arts Festival
2014 Mystery Portraits Gala, National Portrait Gallery, London
2013 'Emerging Artists', The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon
2012 Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Annual Exhibition
2012 Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London; invited work
2011 Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London
2010 Solo exhibition Custom House Studios, Westport
2010 Davy Portrait Awards, Naughton Gallery, Queen’s University Belfast; Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin; Fota House Gallery, Cork
2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition
2009 National Portrait Gallery, London, Mystery Portrait
2008-9 BP Portrait Award 2008: National Portrait Gallery, London; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Aberdeen Art Gallery; Aberystwyth Arts Centre
2008 Faith in Form, Kinsale
2007 ‘Foursight’, Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar
2006 ‘Foursight’, Museum of Country Life, Turlough, Castlebar
2006 12 Degrees, Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar
2006 Degree in Fine Art, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology

collections

National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland, Mayo County Council, Royal Holloway College, University of London.

Awards

Nicola 2009

2011 Changing Faces Award, Royal Society of Portrait Painters

Egg tempera on panel 20 x 30 cm

Simon Weston

This painting came about as a result of winning the Changing Faces Award in 2011. The prize was a commission to make a portrait for the charity's collection.

Egg tempera on board 25 x 20 cm

Interior Horizon

2007 Jorgensen Fine Art Award, Royal Hibernian Academy

Egg tempera on panel 20 x 15 cm

Medium

Egg tempera portraits

The way I work is to draw and photograph my subject, and then work on the painting in the studio. Usually I use egg tempera (sometimes oils), which is very slow and demanding. I build up the paint in layer upon layer, and while I paint I hold the character and personality of the sitter in my mind, so the work becomes a meditation on the character.