About Katharine

I use charcoal, acrylic and oil paint. I record disparate elements of the land, the shape, contour and patterns and, faced with the canvas, the physicality of the paint takes over. I apply the paint with a brush and a palette knife, I play and shape the surface, creating chaos then some sort of order, always a tension between the vertical and horizontal ….

Recently, I have been working from the amazing heat scorched southern landscapes of Andalusia. My compositions are abstracted impressions of elements of the landscape. I paint the rolling views of olive trees and the soil that changes from ochre to white as the midday sun bleaches everything, forming an intense, patterned scape framed by blue mountains from which, as the sun sets and shadows lengthen, shapes emerge and density of colour is heightened. I am thrilled by the complexity of the rows of olive trees. Each tree is delineated by a tiny point receding into the distance which creates an extraordinary design and patchwork effect.

Standing in the landscape watching the wildlife of Andalusia, I see the magnificent Bonelli Eagles, Buzzards, Azure winged magpies and Hoopoes, to name a few. They enter my paintings, they own their terrain.

I worked with glass for several years and found a visual language with the medium of fused glass and its rich luminescence of colour.  This is echoed in the layering process of the paint I apply to my canvas.