Background

Catherine was born and brought up on the West Coast of Scotland.
 
Between 1976 and 1978 she studied drawing and painting in Florence under Nerina Simi and continued to work in oils and drawing throughout the early '80's.

 In 1985 she and her family moved to the South West of France. There she  brought up four daughters, painting landscapes and still life in oil and acrylic, exhibiting work in France, Britain and the USA.

In 1998 she began journeys to the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, painting large canvases of shells and shoals of fish. Her paintings combine accurate observation and knowledge of marine species with an expressive fluidity and treatment of the paint surface.

The way water and the creatures within continually shift, creating changing formal relationships between shape, light and negative space, fascinate her. Despite drawing from fish and molluscs washed up by the tide, she re-invigorates them through the act of painting. Her marks and the multitude of aqueous washes of acrylic ensure her paintings retain fluidity and motion. The way she effectively uses tone and atmospheric perspective guarantees that your eye is taken right through the picture plane to the softest hint of a pale fish silhouette peering through the silky bodies of those in the foreground.

She continued her work on marine life in Catalonia where she and her family lived between 2003-2005. 

Catherine now works between Dartmoor and her studio in France. There she grows ancient varieties of vegetables to paint. 


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Why do I support the Marine Conservation Society?

I support the MSC because I would like our children, and our children's children to enjoy clean beaches, swim in clean seas, and enjoy fish. So far only a tiny part of our fishing grounds are protected, though it is a simple, proven way of allowing our fish stocks to recover. The MSC champions this which is why I am happy to donate a percentage of any prints sales to them.

'Catherine's paintings combine accurate observation and knowledge of marine species with an expressive fluidity and treatment of paint surface. The strength of these works lies in the subtle observation which underlies her skill at pattern making and layering of the paint surface.'
Elspeth Moncrieff-Bray