Today we’d like to introduce you to Betty Greer.
Hi Betty, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In 2022, at the age of 52, I left Scotland and moved to Türkiye to begin a new chapter of my life. While that move was significant, my real transformation had started years earlier.
After growing up with the impact of a difficult childhood, I spent much of my adult life building a successful career in finance. From the outside, life looked stable, but there came a point when I felt completely broken. The ways I had learned to cope were no longer enough, and healing became a necessity rather than a choice.
Over several years, I worked to rebuild my relationship with myself, letting go of old fears and beliefs and discovering who I truly was beneath them. By the time I moved to Türkiye, I wasn’t running away from my old life—I was stepping fully into the life I had worked hard to create.
As I settled into this new chapter, I felt a strong desire to share what I had learned. Having never painted before, I taught myself to paint as a way of expressing experiences and emotions that words alone could not fully capture. That creative journey expanded into writing and poetry and revealed gifts I never knew I had.
Today, I create figurative art that explores transformation, authenticity, joy, freedom, and the possibilities that emerge when we live true to ourselves. My current body of work, *The Path*, is a series of 21 oil paintings inspired by my own journey of healing and self-discovery. While the paintings reflect my story, they are also an invitation for others to reflect and imagine the life that might be waiting for them.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it certainly hasn’t been a smooth road. One of the biggest challenges was learning to let go of the identities and beliefs that had shaped my life for many years. Even when those beliefs no longer served me, they felt familiar and safe, and stepping beyond them required considerable strength and inner work.
Starting over in Türkiye at 52 brought its own challenges. Building a life in a new country meant adapting to a different culture, creating new connections, and embracing the unknown. While exciting, it also required courage and patience.
Teaching myself to paint was another challenge. I had never painted before, so I had to overcome self-doubt and the fear of being a beginner. Sharing deeply personal work publicly was something I had to grow into. There were moments I wanted to pull back, but the hope that my story might help someone kept me going.
Looking back, I wouldn’t change any of my experiences. They taught me resilience, authenticity, and the importance of trusting the path, even when the destination isn’t yet clear.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a figurative artist, writer, and creator of The Path, a series of 21 oil paintings inspired by my own journey of healing, transformation, and self-discovery.
My work explores themes of authenticity, freedom, joy, resilience, and the possibilities that emerge when we begin living true to ourselves. While my paintings are rooted in personal experience, they are intended to be universal. I hope viewers can see aspects of their own journeys reflected within them and find room for reflection, hope, and possibility.
What sets my work apart is that I am not focused on painting the wounds themselves. My interest lies in what comes after healing—the freedom, self-awareness, courage, and sense of possibility that can emerge when we reconnect with who we truly are. Through my work, I explore not only where we have been, but who we can become.
I am most proud of creating The Path, not only because it represents my journey from complete beginner to artist, but because it has allowed me to transform personal experience into work that may resonate with and support others.
The paintings also form the foundation of my companion book, The Life That Waits, which shares the meaning behind each painting, my personal stories and poetry, and includes invitations for readers to write and create from reflections on their own journey.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best way to support the work right now is simply to follow along and be part of the journey. Prints and my companion book, The Life That Waits, will be available later this year, and I would love for people to be part of that journey when they launch.
If opportunities for exhibitions, collaborations, or conversations about the work feel like a fit, I am always open to connecting. This work exists to be shared, and the more people it reaches, the better.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bettygreer.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bettygreerart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BettyGreerArt/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bettygreerart
