100 Catherine Adams

Painting/Mixed Media

Artform: Mixed media, Painting

My work has always been about colour. I love experimenting and playing with it in a variety of media. I work in acrylics, pastels, guache, even Farrow and Ball match pots as well as colourful inks and mixed media on a variety of surfaces.

Starting points this year began with domestic still life. I abstract from ceramics, textiles and flowers on the dining table, sideboard or window ledge. Sometimes items on a picnic cloth in the garden with the beauty of hills and trees in the background inspire me. I love using bold colour combinations as well as flattening space, simplifying, exaggerating and using my imagination to create impact or emotion.

Matisse famously said that “Colour above all and perhaps more than drawing, is a liberation“. I discovered his work when I was an art student some years ago and his joyful use of colour and pattern have stayed with me.

My work in Open Studios this year is the result of carrying on where I left off after the Open Studios last August. Process continues to be more important than product. In last year’s exhibition the colour of trees in the landscape was the main focus of my attention, but I also returned to favourite still life subject matter and have continued to develop this theme in a variety of ways, allowing my imagination to dictate direction.

My starting points usually come from first hand experience, but then allow colour and pattern take over. For me the process of creating each piece, the pleasure of applying colour is paramount.

It’s easy to be inspired by the scenery and views around my studio in West Malvern. I may start with studio subject matter but the trees, hills and garden also play their part. Sometimes the pattern on a textile will side track me into a piece of imagination. As I travel throughout the year, other unexpected starting points will fire my imagination such as tropical plants in the Caribbean or Tresco Abbey garden providing new beginnings.

My friend and potter Angela Townson’s exciting work has also made an appearance in some of my still life pieces. I am pleased that we will be displaying work together again this year in my garden studio.

There will also be sketchbooks, giclee prints and greetings cards on display. We look forward to seeing you there.

Venue

24 Croft Bank
West Malvern
WR14 4DU

Directions: Take the B4232 from Great Malvern, climbing towards West Malvern. Just before St James Church turn right down Croft Bank. Number 24 is on the right, opposite Montpelier Road. Free parking on Croft Bank.

What 3 words location: frail.searched.estate

Tel: 07815 541684
Instagram: @catherine.adams56

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