Elizabeth (Beth) Derby is a longtime resident of Eliot, Maine and has been a member of NHAA since 2014. After retirement from a career in Information Technology, she rekindled her love of art, working first in fiber arts and then in painting. Beth is primarily self-taught, but has taken multiple workshops in oil, watercolor, acrylic and encaustic. Although most of her current work is in oil, she loves to explore new mediums. Her work is in private collections both nationally and internationally. In addition to her work in visual arts, Beth is a poet and writer.

When asked why she paints, Beth replies ”for the sheer love of it ... the excitement, the angst, the thrill, the despair, the sense of wonder, the way it makes me see things, the quiet time spent in my studio, the intellectual challenge, the poetry of it.” Whatever the subject ... land, water, still life or abstract ... her painting is an exploration of form and layer, focusing on building a dialogue between surface and depth, illusion and reality.