bella bruce
bella bruce by Nancy Henderson
Cradled by spectacular views of Lookout and Signal mountains outside her light-filled studio, Bella Bruce motions toward a painting she'll soon finish, a whimsical scene of four women dancing. In the adjacent dining room hangs another work-in-progress, a quirky ostrich propped beneath a clothesline strung with her 70s-style prints: goofy dogs, bicycles, penguins, sneakers, flowers in shades of bright orange, purple and lime. Like her creations, Bella is colorful, animated and fun. Working with oil, acrylic, house paint and any other medium she feels like using, she refuses to take herself too seriously. "I don't follow any rules," says the 43-year-old artist.
Bella originally considered becoming a lawyer but instead started her own SAT-ACT test preparation company, River City Workshops, in 1993 while earning her master's of education degree in guidance and counseling. Along the way she taught art classes at UTC, GPS and other schools, and loved it, but rarely painted for herself until her fourth child was born and the family moved into their Hixson home. "Maybe there was something about the lighting in this house," she says. "I don't know what it was, but all of a sudden I started painting more." She painted a bicycle image as a gift to her brother-inlaw, an avid cyclist in Fredericksburg, Va., and her sister's friends started ordering their own. Another piece of art sold for a high price at a Chattanooga auction. In 2003 January 2009 Bella produced nine more paintings, piled them into her car and drove to Virginia, half-expecting to sell one or two. "And in 15 minutes I sold every single one of 'em," she says with a laugh. "I think it was kind of a fluke. I think it was good timing and the right people."
To date, she has completed more than 160 paintings and sold almost all of them. And art has become a family affair at the Bruce household. Jacqueline, 18, and John-David, 17, bring their friends over to paint, while Grayson, 11, and Lucy, 6, often hang their handiwork alongside their mom?s. Rather than choose between her two passions, Bella continues to lead a double life as both artist and educator. "In my counseling," she says, "I tell students, 'You don't have to do just one thing.'" Nevertheless, she has trouble when a client requests a more subdued style. "I couldn't do something toned down," she admits. "It has to be colorful for me." The vivid hues, she says, inspire others to dabble in art. "I want people to get an idea to do it themselves, and it's happened more than once. My paintings make people happy." Bella's art is available at Mud Pie, Stone Cup, Mocha Joe's and Lulu's hair salon.