Catherine is fascinated by the way we are saturated with text and communication in every aspect of our lives.
She finds words have an inherent beauty and is fascinated by the way we are saturated with text and communication in every aspect of our lives. Catherine aims to take this and create works that will simultaneously calm and question the viewer. She often works in series using a variety of scales and surfaces ranging from robust slate to fine handmade papers.
When in the Highlands Catherine works directly in nature observing and documenting the ever changing elements, quickly sketching the changing colours and tones of the sea, sky and land, often capturing the same view repeatedly over hours/days/weeks. Back in her studio she applies multiple layers of calligraphic marks, using oils, acrylics, pigments and inks, using both conventional writing & asemic writing, a form of gestural, quasi-calligraphy, to allow for infinite interpretations.
Other works incorporate text in in a more specific way, such as including the answers given to questions that she poses to the public, or when she creates erasure poetry by painting over old books leaving words exposed. In her resulting artworks the text can be crisp and punchy with an individual word, or layered up and obscure for exciting surface tension and to create a curiosity. Ultimately her artworks simultaneously calm and question the viewer whilst having a certain amount of ambiguity.