Bruised

Charcoal on paper
35cm x 26m

Catherine has exhibited in the BP Portrait Award, and her work is included in the first 500 Portraits, a National Portrait Gallery publication.  She was short-listed for Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2014 and 2018 and was a semi-finalist  in 2019.  Catherine has also won various awards – most recently the Watercolour Materials Award in the Jacksons Painting Prize 2023 and the Cass Art Prize in the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 2022.

Catherine belongs to several art collectives including the Lake Artists Society and the Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP), and was a founder member of Green Door, a collective of artists based in and around the South Lakes.

Catherine says: ‘My work is inspired by the people around me – friends and close family feature predominantly.  I never seek to flatter, but rather to unveil hidden narratives and record situations the way I see or recall them, representing for me a memory, relationship, event, or even a feeling, making each piece very personal.  These can be single portraits, or scenes featuring groups and gatherings.  I sometimes alter narratives by juxtaposing figures together, however, primarily it is determined by my perception of different situations. I may choose to produce each image in oils, watercolour or charcoal, as each one has individual qualities and challenges, and can express the image in different ways.

Bruised is a portrait of my mother after a fall during Covid.   I sought to convey her fragility as well as her sensitive and caring personality.’