Lee Byford-Daynes

Lee is an exceptionally talented self-taught artist, working in top quality oil paints on canvas. She specialises in portraiture and her work can take her several months to capture the feeling and identity of the sitter. Her work is characterised by a moody and incredibly beautiful tonal back drop/setting. As well as portraiture, Lee has painted still lifes and more recently loves to include Native flora and fauna (see Common Garden Variety) . Her body of work from 2011-12 shows the culmination of this with her skill as a portrait artist (see Adorned and Oasis).
In November 2006, Gallery De Novo hosted Lee's first solo exhibition 'Still Life' - which consisted of a collection of paintings and drawings she had been working on over the past couple of years. This show was a huge success and her work was written about by several leading newspapers. In 2011 Lee was a finalist in the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award and in 2012 she was awrded "Highly Commended" for the Adam Portraiture Award in Wellington (the judge was Senior Curator for the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Christopher Chapman).
Gallery De Novo is very privileged to have Lee's work in its collection and we believe she is making a name for herself within New Zealand's artistic elite. In the years we have exhibited her work, we have sold pieces to collectors both nationally and internationally.