Fine Art Miniatures
Lara Byng grew up in the suburbs of Leeds, West Yorkshire and spent a large part of her childhood drawing, illustrating her own stories and visiting galleries, much to the delight of her Polish mother Leonarda. When Lara was only two years old, both her parents believed that one day she would be an artist.
After becoming a young mother and leaving her Fine Art Degree, Lara spent the next few years raising her son and moving with her small family at the time, to military bases in both the UK and the U.S. but eventually returned to the UK after the sudden death of her younger sister. It was this profound loss that impacted her life and compelled to pick up her brushes once again and paint.
Around five years ago, Lara set up her own small business Dark Willow Art producing moonlit landscapes of all sizes, with a hint of magic. Each painting a retreat and a therapeutic journey into another world.
Living in a modest sized home at the time with two young boys, Lara began working on a small scale and discovered a passion for painting miniatures. Family soon learnt of Lara’s miniature art and it was her auntie that introduced her to the wonderful world of doll’s houses, persuading her to attend a dolls house fair in York and from that day forward, Lara was hooked. Alongside Dark Willow Art, Lara began recreating masterpieces in miniature for dolls houses and private collectors of miniature art after many different artists from all eras and in a variety of different artistic styles such as John William Waterhouse, Botticelli, Grimshaw, Degas, Fragonard, Da Vinci, John Singer Sargent & Gustav Klimt.
Lara has sold both her own original art and her Masters in miniature worldwide and has exhibited in galleries across the UK, including the Bankside Gallery in London. The International Toy & Miniature Museum in Kansas City U.S.A. have also purchased Lara’s work for exhibition. Lara is a regular exhibitor at Dolls house fairs such as Miniatura and Kensington and more recently the Tom Bishop International Miniature show in Chicago.
Above all, Lara’s original art is created from her soul and each one of her miniature Masters has been carefully recreated from the heart, with a deep appreciation of the original artist and their work with every brushstroke.
Lara believes a painting is like a story…will you read it?